The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and the Minister of Technology and Science in Zambia Felix Mutati have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and the Zambian Ministry of Technology and Science.
The MoU aims to enhance cooperation between the two countries in several ICT-related fields, most notably digital transformation, postal services, institutional development, capacity building, skills development, Artificial Intelligence (AI), e-learning, digital inclusion, and international infrastructure.
The two ministers held extensive discussions to review the most prominent proposed areas of cooperation between the two countries in ICT and implementation mechanisms to serve common interests.
During the meeting, the ICT Minister emphasized that Egypt is strengthening cooperation ties with all African countries. He pointed out that the distinguished ties between Egypt and Zambia are growing at different levels.
The ICT Minister pointed out that the two countries agreed to cooperate in a number of areas of common interest, including collaboration, exchange of expertise, visions, and successful experiences in digital transformation. This is in addition to benefiting from Digital Egypt, cooperating in startups, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, and cooperating in human development to expand the talent pool in all ICT sciences by hosting Zambian youth to be trained in the Information Technology Institute (ITI), the National Telecommunications Institute (NTI), and Egypt University of Informatics (EUI).
The two sides agreed to cooperate to provide postal services to expatriates in the two countries. This is in addition to collaborating in ICT and international infrastructure by benefiting from the Egyptian international infrastructure. They also discussed collaboration in technological disciplines such as AI and cybersecurity.
For his part, Mutati highlighted that the cooperation aims to benefit from the successful Egyptian experience in all ICTs to support the efforts made in Zambia to achieve digital transformation. He pointed out that digital transformation cannot be achieved by one country only, but it will be achieved through establishing partnerships.
Mutati looked forward to leveraging the successful Egyptian experience in postal development to improve Zambia Postal Services Corporation (ZamPost) and upgrade its services. This is in addition to benefiting from the Egyptian experience in ICT regulations, developing youth capabilities, creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurship and startups, and stimulating digital innovation.
Mutati explained that a trade delegation from Zambia, which includes various Zambian companies, is currently visiting Egypt. He referred to the efforts made for increasing Egyptian investments in Zambia. Mutati also invited Talaat to visit Zambia to discuss collaboration with countries in Central Africa.
Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Elbadri indicated that the ties between Egypt and Zambia are strong and represent a model of cooperation to serve common interests. He explained that technology is the future’s most significant element for the two countries for achieving sustainable development.
Elbadri emphasized that singing the MoU is an opportunity for fruitful cooperation between the two countries in capacity building, modern technologies such as AI, and digital inclusion.
Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to Egypt Topply M. Lubaya clarified that partnerships between Egypt and Zambia could be established in numerous areas. He explained that the MoU signed between the two ministries represents a major achievement of cooperation in ICT areas of common interest.
The meeting was attended by Egypt Post Chairperson Sherif Farouk, Acting CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Ahmed Elzaher, Assistant Minister for Strategy and Implementation Sherine El-Guindy, Vice President International and Wholesale at Telecom Egypt Seif Allah Mounib, several officials from both ministries, the Chairman of the Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunication (CIT) Khaled Ibrahim, and Vice Chairman of CIT Mustafa Saleh.
Under the MoU, the Egyptian government will provide support to the Zambian government in digital transformation by facilitating the establishment of partnerships with multinational and local companies, digitizing the government, supporting digital inclusion in Zambia with special attention to women and youth, and building institutional capacity in Zambian institutions and agencies.
Egypt, represented by Egypt Post, will support capacity building, the digitization of postal services, and the development of Zambia’s AI strategy by benefiting from Egypt’s National AI Strategy as a guide.
The MoU provides for supporting Zambia’s efforts in international bandwidth, e-learning, capacity building, and skills development. This is achieved by sharing Egypt’s capacity building strategy and implementing several activities aimed at twinning and transferring knowledge on Egyptian capacity-building initiatives to help fulfill Zambia’s e-government strategy. This is in addition to providing training opportunities for Zambian youth and calibers and hosting Zambian officials responsible for capacity building to explore closely the Egyptian experience.
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وزارة الاتصالات وتكنولوجيا المعلومات-مصر
