MANAMA: Bahrain’s Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) hosted a meeting with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority and the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat General, reported the Bahrain News Agency.
During the meeting, the trio followed up on the GCC Smart Card technical team’s directives and discussed information technology cooperation.
Bahrain’s team was led by the iGA’s Vice CEO Dr. Zakareya Al-Khajah, while Saudi Arabia’s team was led by Brig. Hamad bin Ali Al-Harbi, director of public security.
The meeting was held as part of the GCC’s efforts to promote technical integration among Gulf countries.
The agenda covered a variety of topics, including methods to expedite the integration of Bahrain’s and Saudi Arabia’s ID verification systems, as agreed upon previously.
The advantages of integrating the systems were also discussed, such as giving Bahraini citizens access to Saudi Arabia’s Unified National Platform with the same eKey usernames and passwords they use in Bahrain, eliminating the need to create new accounts when visiting Saudi Arabia.
Saudi citizens will be able to access Bahrain’s National Portal using their identity authentication system.
The eKey is a single sign-on system that gives access to a variety of Bahraini government services.
The project will also streamline commercial and investment procedures between the two countries, allowing users to conduct transactions online without Bahraini investors having to travel to Saudi Arabia or vice versa.
Furthermore, Bahrain’s eKey service and system experience were discussed, as were iGA’s efforts to continuously develop e-services, channels and projects.
Al-Khajah revealed that over 611,000 beneficiaries are using the basic and advanced versions of the eKey system to access more than 153 e-services available through Bahrain’s National Portal.
Multi-factor authentication, digital signature support, and other enhancements to the eKey system are being considered.
Al-Khajah emphasized Bahrain’s commitment to implementing and supporting ambitious digital initiatives aimed at achieving comprehensive electronic integration among GCC countries.
