The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has organized the third coordination meeting of the national group on the preparation of Egypt's National Digital Development Report as part of the Arab Digital Development Report (ADDR) 2021 of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The meeting has been held at MCIT headquarters in Smart Village.
Representatives of 25 ministries, government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) participated in the meeting, namely the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Egypt Post, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the National Council for Women, the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), Al-Azhar Institution, the National Press Authority, the National Media Authority (Maspero), the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, the Arab Council for Social Responsibility (ACSR), and the Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics and Software Alliance (EITESAL).
The meeting reviewed the first draft of Egypt's Digital Development Report. Representatives of the participating entities shared with the members of the Group their remarks and inputs to produce a complete draft of the report before submitting it to ESCWA.
The attendees commended the efforts and achievements made in digital development, digital transformation, digital and financial inclusion for citizens and institutions, helping build a safe and productive interactive digital society. The achievements were highlighted in the first draft of the report with the aim to shed light on the national progress achieved in the field of digital development, which will help improve Egypt's ranking on regional and international indices of digitization and technology.
Concluding the meeting, the members of the Group stressed the necessity to follow the methodology, guidelines and timetable set by ESCWA. The first draft of the report is to be finalized in March, with the Group continuing to convene to review the report and submit the final version in April or May.
It is worth noting that the first ADDR was released in 2019 under the title “Arab Digital Development Report 2019: Towards Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness,” featuring 10 countries, including Jordan, the UAE, Tunisia, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait and Mauritania. Egypt is participating in the report for the first time this year.
