The Director General of the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) Dr. Raed Mohammed bin Shams announced the establishment of Middle East and North Africa Group for Public Administration Research (MENAPAR), this came in the opening of the (MENAPAR) conference, hosted by Manama over a period of two days from 23rd to 24th April, where this move came after the success of the 29th International Conference of the institutes of administrative development and sciences, which was organized by BIPA in Bahrain last year, in partnership with both the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration (IASIA).
Dr. bin Shams stressed that the “MENAPAR” initiative came to gather the Middle East and North Africa countries under a single research umbrella, “… to face major challenges and changes that impact on the sustainable development processes and administrative decisions making, based on scientific methodology studies stemming from public administration practitioners in various sectors, that are in line with the aspirations of the region related to developing public administration being the backbone of prosperity and human development”. Dr. bin Shams praised the “MENAPAR” initiative as a mechanism of action to link research groups with each other to overcome the difficulties and obstacles of scientific research, pointing out that the difficulties are not only in the abundance of data or opening the doors for scientific research, but are also in the area to absorb the importance of scientific research in the development; and integrating scientific research issue in the pattern of our daily thinking and work, both at the level of the government or the private sector work.
Dr. bin Shams added that the Kingdom of Bahrain adoption of this important regional conference outbreaks of the reform project in Bahrain, which was inaugurated by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, as the reform project emphasizes the importance of public administration and its role in the upgrading and developing all economic, political and social sectors in the Kingdom, especially that we strive nowadays to take absolute advantage of all programs and plans offered by schools and institutes of public administration in all countries of the world.
Dr. bin Shams revealed that Bahrain's support to the “MENAPAR” initiative comes in response to the need of the upcoming phase to double up international efforts to improve the government work and public policies, and backing the Kingdom's achievement of regional development in the field of administrative policies and practical measures in a way to ensure correct application subjected to a good level of control and accountability; and to promote administrative efficiency in the public sector institutions, pointing out that, despite the difficulties and challenges we face in this area, however, there is an endless support from inside and outside of Bahrain .. from all research groups and sectors in the Middle East region, not to mention the international efforts and backing from the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), as well as from the United Nations (UN) represented in the UN developmental program (UNDP).
Dr. bin Shams expressed that the Kingdom of Bahrain has established itself on the international map of public administration thanks to keeping pace with the cutting-edge advancements and sciences, in addition to the experiences and expertise reached by the countries participating in the conference, especially in the field of administrative sciences, and added: ” … all of this comes from the belief of officials in Bahrain, in the payoffs of the public administration sciences and the positive impact on the growth and the development of the administrative system in our Kingdom.”
Also the Head of the UNDP in Bahrain Peter Grumman delivered a speech in which he expressed his appreciation for the “MENAPAR” initiative which came as a fruitful result of the partnership between BIPA and the UNDP where the UNDP seeks to develop the partnership between the two parties according to the strategic plans that achieve the desired goals, in the same context, the Director General of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration (IASIA) Rollet Reaultan praised the key role adopted by BIPA to create MENAPAR organization to be the nucleus of Public Administration Research in the Middle East and North Africa.
On the other hand, the president of IIAS Kurt Bokhart talked about the importance of instilling a culture of research in the communities to know the problematic areas and then build strategies on that basis, stressing the importance of systematic scientific research that supported by evidence and proof, therefore MENAPAR came as an important foundation in the Middle East and North Africa regions to emphasize the importance of scientific research for the development of practices in the Arab community.
The Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Conference Dr. Sufyan Sahrawi revealed that the conference will continue throughout the second day with a plenary session on Networking for Public Administration Research in the Region, followed by six parallel sessions on public finance, e-government, teaching of public administration in the Arab region, public administration research, public governance, performance management.
Finally, organizations supporting the conference were honored such as the Economic Development Board, Gulf Petrochemical Company, Gulf Air, Menatelecom, Layalina and Al-Watan and Al-Bilad newspapers.