Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni received today Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel and his accompanying delegation in the town of Jinja on Lake Victoria, outside the capital Kampala near the Nile River’s headwaters.
The Egyptian delegation included several businessmen and senior officials from Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
During the meeting, Dr. Kamel delivered to the Ugandan president a verbal message from President Hosni Mubarak greeting president Museveni. The two presidents are due to meet in Cairo early next year following the Ugandan elections.
President Museveni stressed his wish to visit Egypt for boosting bilateral relations in all fields over the coming period. Egypt and Uganda have deeply-rooted political, historical and natural relations.
Dr. Kamel assured the Uganda president that Egypt is highly interested in cooperating with Uganda in information and communication technology (ICT) in accordance with the directives of Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif.
PM Nazif had earlier instructed that the delegation should include ICT leaders, businessmen and investors to offer support for the Nile Basin countries in the field.
The Ugandan President also expressed interest in the fact that many Egyptian companies are investing in the communications and software sector in his country.
He asked Dr. Kamel to help Uganda implement a plan for setting up a center for exporting outsourcing technology services through collaboration with the Egyptian companies specialized in the field. Such endeavors will create job opportunities for the Ugandan youth and help them receive training on IT skills.
Dr. Kamel affirmed president Museveni that the Egyptian initiative for promoting ICT in the Nile Basin States in documenting the cultural and natural heritage aims at benefiting the Ugandan side from the future studies on climate development and natural changes in the Nile Basin.
The Ugandan President highly welcomed the idea, saying that Uganda should be the first to benefit from the initiative.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kamel and Ugandan Minister of Communications Mr. Hun Augri Ori signed a number of memorandums of understanding (MOU)s and letters of intent, focusing on the following tracks:
First Track: Content Development and Cyberspace Security:
-The Nile Basin Memory Project for Documenting the Cultural and Natural Heritage via IT.
-Contributing to establishing an information security emergency center.
Second Track: Human Capacity Building:
- Specialized training programs on wireless networking in cooperation with National Telecommunications Institute (NTI).
- Specialized training programs on software development in collaboration with Information Technology Institute (ITI).
- Specialized training programs on postal and social services in cooperation with Egypt Post.
- Contributing to setting up a regional training center in two of the Basin countries, an English-speaking one, and a French speaking one.
- Developing human capacity for frequency spectrum management and contributing to the development of the regulatory and legislative frameworks of the communication regulation policies.
Third Track: Promoting Investments:
- Contributing to building prototypes of Egypt’s Smart Village.
Fourth Track: Facilitating IT Tools:
- Contributing to setting up IT clubs and mobile internet units in villages and remote areas.
