Bahrain's Commerce Ministry has announced it will use the Bolero.net platform for the secure and speedy electronic transfer of documents following an agreement with Bolero Middle East and North Africa (Mena).
Commerce Ministry undersecretary Dr Abdulla Mansoor said the cooperation with bolero.net signalled another step in the ministry's modernisation programme and constituted an important phase of integration between the IT and commerce worlds. He said bolero.net had revolutionised e-commerce, making it more secure and simple, and that his ministry had drawn up plans to leverage the platform's benefits to build a world-class e-commerce model involving different sectors and some of Bahrain's leading companies.
In his comments, chief operating officer of Bolero Mena Steve van den Heever said: 'The momentum provided by the government through earlier initiatives will gather steam as bolero.net moves in to break down the obstacles that were preventing the full-scale adoption of e-commerce in addition to laying to rest doubts about the security of online exchange of confidential documents.' He added that Bolero Mena would soon set up a regional office in Bahrain.
'Bolero.net has dramatically changed the face of online document exchange by devising a foolproof system, underpinned by a unique legal structure,' van den Heever said.
'It is powered and part-owned by Swift, the global payment message processing body, that sets the industry standards. It has become the most efficient tool for online business transactions, effectively overcoming all the handicaps seen in a paper-based system. Bolero.net makes it possible to carry out an entire transaction online, from exchanging contractual documents and title of ownership to the agreement on payment and delivery details, cutting down administration and operations costs.
'This cooperation between Bahrain's Ministry of Commerce and bolero.net will have far-reaching consequences, as it will give Bahrain a lead over other countries in the region in the critical area of e-commerce .'
Bolero Mena, launched in May 2002, is based at the Dubai Internet City and has regional offices in Cairo, Amman and Istanbul. Bolero International Ltd was set up in 1998 to provide a secure, electronic document transfer system to automate, simplify and streamline the information flow associated with global trade.
Bolero.net's members include four of Japan's largest trading houses - Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsui and Nissho Iwai - along with the German mail order company Otto Versand, Japanese cargo operator 'K' Lines and Cargill.
