The 24th meeting of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers was organized virtually through video conferencing technology. This edition was presided by Egypt which was chosen as the new Arab digital capital for 2021.
The Arab digital capital initiative was launched to create a stimulating environment for investment in the ICT sector. The initiative highlights the city’s technical value and its key role in promoting technology and innovation.
Dr. Amro Talaat, minister of telecommunications and information technology of Egypt confirmed that the meeting is held in the framework of the common efforts deployed to achieve an Arab digital society in light of the technological revolution that the world is witnessing. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic proved that the ICT sector is a key player and the driver of all other sectors.
In his speech, Dr. Talaat shared Egypt vision which consists of three pillars that aim to create an Arab digital society: digital transformation, capacity and digital skills building and driving innovation. He also assured that Egypt will continue to play its role as one the Arab countries hosting a great number of international cables, whereby it has continued the development of international infrastructure by adding more stations on the fifteen international cables passing by Egypt. Dr. Talaat called other Arab countries to create an international network that links all Arab countries, and for that purpose, Egypt will commit to offering 10 Gb/s on all Telecom Egypt’s submarine cables to link Egypt with the other Arab countries.
The meeting also discussed the activities of observing entities within the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers such as the Arab regional office of the ITU, AICTO, the Arab network of ICT regulating entities and the Arab-Chinese center of technology sharing.
