The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat chaired, today, the 51st Ordinary Session of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM). It was organized by the League of Arab States (LAS) Technical Secretariat, chaired by the Director of the ICT Department – Economic Affairs Sector at LAS Khaled Wali.
The Session was attended by representatives of ATICM eight Member States: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Yemen, and it was held at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) headquarters in Smart Village.
In his speech, the ICT Minister underlined that the Session is a great opportunity to review the achievements made and develop common visions and goals in line with future efforts of Arab countries. He highlighted the significance of ICT as an essential element in supporting development plans of Arab countries and a driving force for building a diversified competitive economy based on innovation and knowledge.
The ICT Minister pointed out that the ICT sector is increasingly evolving, which necessitates the adoption of an active course of action to meet rapid ongoing changes.
Talaat revealed that over the past few years, there has been lots of changes and developments in the ICT global scene, reflecting the pivotal role of ICT in advancing national and regional societies and economies. He praised the joint Arab action and remarkable achievements in several areas of common interest through the Arab Permanent Committee for ICT and the Arab Permanent Postal Commission (APPC) and their working groups.
The ICT Minister congratulated brotherly Arab countries for participating in UN events and winning the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council Membership (2023-2027) for Region D (Africa) as well as the membership of the Radio Regulations Board (RRB). Talaat also congratulated the countries that achieved high levels of postal excellence, according to the 2022 Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) by the Universal Postal Union (UPU). He stressed that Egypt supports all Arab nominations in the international arena.
Talaat referred to the Arab efforts made to prepare an Arab ICT strategy in line with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Lines and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He discussed the efforts exerted to identify priorities in digital development national plans of Arab countries. Talaat also commended ATICM observatory bodies’ efforts in fulfilling and translating the common Arab vision to an Arab ICT strategy in line with global trends.
The ICT Minister congratulated APPC for developing the methodology of its specialized technical committees and for forming them. He announced that Egypt will host this year’s Arab postage stamp exhibition, stressing the need to support the Arab efforts in utilizing technological advancement in postal operations.
Talaat thanked ATICM Technical Secretariat for its fruitful efforts during the past few years. He also thanked those who contributed to the development of recommendations on issues of national and regional priority, to be presented to the Executive Bureau.
The ICT Minister announced that ATICM is convening tomorrow with the participation of 11 ministers, reflecting the significance of the topics covered.
For his part, the Tunisian Minister of Communication Technologies Nizar Ben Néji praised the united Arab stance demonstrated in global forums. He pointed out that the National Digital Transformation Strategy 2025 was formulated within the framework of the government’s major reforms program, taking into account Tunisia’s Vision 2035 on digital development.
ICT Minister in Yemen Najeeb Mansour Al-Auj highlighted the significance of enhancing cooperation between Arab countries in all ICT fields and supporting Arab nominations in the international arena.
Palestinian ICT Minister Ishaq Sider thanked Egypt for the efforts made to host ATICM Executive Bureau’s sessions and commended the ICT joint Arab action as well as LAS efforts.
During the Session, the report and recommendations of ATICM 50th Ordinary Session were adopted, as well as the outcomes of APPC 42nd Session.
Topics on cybersecurity and Palestine were also discussed during the Session. Additionally, the attendees discussed an Egyptian paper on the track of contribution to the Global Digital Compact, to be shared with Arab countries and concerned Arab and UN organizations for exchanging views. This is in addition to inviting Arab states to start working on the track with their permanent representative to the UN and to organize the Fifth Arabic Digital Content Forum in 2023.
During the Session, the Digital Cooperation Organization was welcomed as an observatory body in activity-related meetings of Arab technical working groups.
ATICM Executive Bureau thanked the countries that participated in the Arab Digital Capital Initiative, which aims to support young Arabs through the use of ICT and by fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in ICT. The Session stressed the significance of continuing the Initiative and inviting countries to run for hosting the Arab Digital Capital 2023.
The Session was attended by Ministers Sider, Al-Auj, and Néji; General Manager for International Affairs at the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) and Saudi Arabia Councilor for ITU Mansour Alqurashi, Secretary General at the Ministry of Digital Transition, Innovation and Public Sector Modernisation in Mauritania Sidi Moulaye Zeine, Algerian Charge d’Affaires to Egypt Amine Sayd, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Morocco to LAS Hisham El Sawy.
Furthermore, the Session was attended by an Egyptian delegation headed by the Chairman of Egypt Post Sherif Farouk, with the participation of the Executive President of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) Hossam El-Gamal, and Advisor to the ICT Minister for Economic and Statistical Affairs Ahmed Saeed.
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وزارة الاتصالات وتكنولوجيا المعلومات-مصر
