The 42nd edition of GITEX Global exhibition and conference was held on October 10-14 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This year's edition celebrates technology innovation. Tech trends featured include Artificial Intelligence (AI), data science, metaverse, FinTech, among others. More than 5,000 exhibitors and 100,000 attendees from over 170 countries participated in this edition.
Heading a high-level delegation, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has visited Dubai to participate in GITEX Global, over two days. He held a number of meetings with representatives of tech giants to discuss potential cooperation. During the meetings, Talaat presented the features and competitive advantages of the Egyptian ICT sector, as well as the investment opportunities it offers.
He met with a delegation from Lenovo, headed by President of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Giovanni Di Filippo. They discussed major investment areas, the competitive advantages of the Egyptian ICT sector, and Lenovo’s plan to increase its investments in Egypt, on the sidelines of GITEX Global.
The Egyptian delegation presented the pillars of Digital Egypt Strategy for Offshoring Industry 2022- 2026 and the facilitations and incentives offered to investors. Lenovo officials considered establishing a center for offshoring services in Egypt to deliver Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions.
Furthermore, Talaat visited Huawei’s pavilion in GITEX. He met with President of Huawei Northern Africa Terry He and President of Huawei Cloud's Global Marketing and Sales Service Jacqueline Shi. They reviewed the digital transformation solutions and services that Huawei developed, as well as its future plans in cloud and data centers.
In a similar vein, the ICT Minister held significant talks with various ICT major global companies and discussed opening new horizons for cooperation and investment in the ICT sector. He met with the Head of Middle East and Africa (MEA) Amazon Web Services (AWS) Worldwide Public Sector Wojciech Bajda, to discuss enhancing cooperation in several ICT fields.
Meeting with a delegation from Intel Corporation, headed by the Vice President Sales and Marketing and General Manager, EMEA Territory at Intel Corporation Maurits Tichelman, Talaat discussed the means of enhancing cooperation in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and electronics manufacturing.
The ICT Minister also held a meeting with the Senior Vice President and Head of the Middle East and Africa at Tech Mahindra Ram Ramachandran to discuss enhancing cooperation and contribution of the company to implement digital transformation projects in Egypt, including the “Ahmos” project, aiming at restructuring software systems for most government agencies.
Talaat also met with Senior Vice President of Oracle EMEA Advanced Customer Services (ACS) Antonio Mesa to discuss means of increasing the company’s investments and expanding its outsourcing services hub in Egypt.
The ICT Minister also met with Chief Commercial Officer at Sutherland K.S. Kumar, and Senior Director, MENA region Ahmad Rihan. They discussed the company’s future plans to expand its investments as well as mechanisms for enhancing future cooperation in several areas of common interest.
Moreover, Talaat partook in Onstage Interview: ICT Sector in Egypt: From Development to Productivity. He reviewed the latest developments in the Egyptian ICT sector and the most significant achievements related to the ICT industry. He showcased the efforts made to enhance Egypt’s position in the ICT industry scene.
During the Interview, the ICT Minister stated that Egypt has an all-encompassing strategy aimed at indigenizing the electronics industry and deepening local manufacturing. He highlighted the state’s keenness to adopt modern technologies, thus establishing the Applied Innovation Center (AIC) to develop solutions to the challenges faced by society, using ICT modern technologies. He added that partnerships with major global companies and universities were also established to provide training in AI sciences.
On the sidelines of GITEX Global, Egypt won the Speedtest Awards for the fastest fixed Internet speed in Africa presented by Ookla®️. Egypt has become at the forefront in the first and second quarters of 2022. The award came as a culmination of the tireless efforts made by MCIT to upgrade the Internet infrastructure, thus contributing to raising the median fixed broadband speed and reaching 46 Mbps in 2022, compared to the median speed of 6.5 Mbps in 2019.