Electronic Commerce & E-Business
Overview: Having the largest financial
and banking sector in the entire Gulf region, Bahrain is also poised to
become a major Electronic Commerce hub both for existing companies and new
comers.
The country also with major governmental efforts is laying down an extensive network of B2B commerce and the trading of E-Business. In fact, a number of governmental departments such as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Immigration have successfully transformed their websites from a tradition information portal to a dynamic E-Commerce platform.
The country is also encouraging a lot of foreign investment to come to Bahrain
and set up a wide range of Electronic Commerce and E-Business incentives.
Some projects are already in the phase of implementation while others are
being taken into consideration such as a one way corridor of Financial transactions
that would serve all the Banking institutions in the country. In its efforts
to bring in foreign investors, Bahrain has become the first country in the
Gulf to have a commercial presence in Japan and is also aiming to build a
cyber city like the one that exists in Dubai which would be purely centered
around Electronic Commerce and online B2B.
Some of the largest banks
in the region such as the Kuwait National Bank have already chosen Bahrain
as their hub of business marketing and Internet based technologies. The largest
airline in the Middle East, Gulf Air Corporation, is yet another example of
a large multi national company that has based its corporate, Business and
IT hub in Manama for conducting everyday business transactions. In short,
Bahrain has the potential to establish an IT geographic zone that is growing
without leaps and bounds. Industry analysts and business predictors are very
optimistic that Bahrain will soon have a very big presence on the Internet.
There is only one Internet Service Provider and despite that fact, the country
has the second highest online sign on rate (penetration rate) in the entire
Gulf region with more than 22 percent, and because of governmental support,
it has the potential for more growth, mostly in the Electronic commerce sector.
The leading Electronic Commerce company is Bahrain TradaNet that has its entire
services based in the island and is a joint venture between GE Information
Services of the United States and a local company. The company provides extensive
E-Commerce help and service to the local financial institutions and Banking
sectors who are in need of an online platform that would deliver them speedy
and efficient results to stay competitive in the world environment. The company,
in collaboration with GE Information services is managing business to business
electronic trading with more than 100,000 trading partners throughout the
globe. (1)