Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel held talks yesterday with Ms. Lorraine Hariton, Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the US Department of State.
Dr. Kamel also met Mr. Steven Koltai, Senior Advisor for Commercial Affairs at the department’s Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs. Mr. Koltai is responsible for designing and implementing the Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) at the US State Department.
The meeting, held in the presence of US Ambassador to Egypt Ms. Margret Scobey, conferred the Egyptian-US partnership in disseminating the culture of entrepreneurship, business leadership and technological innovation adopted by the US Administration.
The US officials' visit goes in line with the initiative the US President Barack Obama had announced in Cairo in June 2009. President Obama expressed his intention to hold a summit to disseminate the culture of business leadership, entrepreneurship and technological innovation in the Muslim World.
President Obama also announced the foundation of a fund for supporting technological development in Muslim dominated countries. Such a fund will contribute to providing new ideas to the market in order to generate more job opportunities.
In addition, he called for establishing centers of excellence in Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia as well as assigning science delegates to cooperate in programs for developing new power resources and green information and communication technology (ICT).
Last February, senior officials from Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) met with Mr. Koltai to discuss Egypt's participation in the US Administration initiative.
Egypt was selected, among 12 other countries, as the first country to carry out the initiative.
The selection came after the US Administration sensed the readiness, cooperation and support of the Egyptian Government. Other factors are the availability of the required mechanisms and distinguished scientific facilities such E-Leaning Competence Center (ELCC), Nile University, Technology Incubators Program and Business Plans Competition sponsored by Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
MCIT currently implements a plan for technological innovation and creativity and development of the culture of private business (2011-2013). The plan is executed through an initiative involving several international partners to make use of the efforts exerted globally and create a leap in technological innovation. This in turn will serve the socio-economic development plans in Egypt.
ELCC currently carries out a program for entrepreneurship skills in collaboration with Cisco Systems. The program has been applied on several small and medium-sized companies via the use of the center's network that covers 700 e-learning centers nationwide.
About ITIDA
Established in 2004, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) aims at developing and promoting the Egyptian IT industry. Relying on unequivocal governmental support, ITIDA utilizes the vast array of advantages bestowed upon Egypt and synchronizes public and private efforts in order to keep the country at the forefront of the global ICT market.
