H.E Dr. Maged Osman Minister of Communications and Information Technology met today with H.E. Mr.Yahia Abdullah Mohamed, the Sudanese minister of Information and Communications who is in Egypt for an official visit.
During the meeting, both ministers have reached an agreement to increase the mutual cooperation between the two countries in the ICT field.
The two ministers have agreed to make use of the Egyptian expertise in the fields of e-Government, establishing and managing smart villages, spreading the internet and IT initiatives.
The possibility of transferring the Egyptian expertise concerning establishing the corporeal land registry to Sudanese side has been discussed too, particularly that Egyptian-Sudanese relations in terms of agriculture is expected to witness growing mutual cooperation.
The issue of increasing the allocated training grants to Sudan in MCIT institutes is also tackled, in addition to sending Egyptian experts to train the Sudanese side according to the Sudanese top priorities.
This meeting also has witnessed reviewing the initiative of developing the Nile Basin countries as Egyptian projects package, which are allocated to the Nile Basin countries, has been highlighted. The Sudanese concerns about these projects according to their needs in all the IT scopes have been also highlighted.
H.E Dr.Maged Osman stated that cooperation with Sudan is of a great importance for Egypt in the context of the Egyptian government policies and concerns, and this is due to what Sudan represents to Egypt as it is the strategic depth on all levels and in all fields.
This goes in line with the old relations between the two nations. Dr.Mgaed Osman added that we should make use of the success of the Egyptian ICT sector in the last period in strengthening the relation between Egypt and the Nile Basin countries in general and with Sudan in particular.
Dr. Maged declared that the coming period in terms of cooperation with Sudan will witness implementation of the signed agreements and MoUs between the two countries.
Mr. Yahia Abdullah Mohamed, Sudanese Minister of Information and Communications stated that it is for granted for Sudan to look forward to Egypt seeking for mutual cooperation for executing any developing programs in the ICT scope.
The Sudnaese minister stressed that the two countries are determined to put an agreement between them in effect in this field.
Dr. Yahia Abdullah Mohamed added that this visit has come to point out participation in serious projects in the coming period. He stressed that Sudan will give these projects a great concern and attention through opening new prospects and vital topics that concern both countries, and will grant the Egyptian companies investment incentives in Sudan.
It is worth mentioning that there are many agreements that have been officially signed between both countries in many fields that are related to the ICT sector and the post; executing Fiber-optic cable linking between Egypt and Sudan in September 2004 to increase the international connection circuits to cope with the steady increase of the communications volume between the two countries.
Furthermore, specialized training courses have been organized for the Sudanese trainees related to IT through Egypt’s National Telecommunication Institute (NTI). There are a lot of the Sudanese students who get their specialized studies in the post field through training courses in The Egyptian National Post Organization (ENPO).
Dr. Yahia Abdullah Mohamed and his accompanying delegation made a tour in the smart village in which they visited a number of IT companies to acknowledge their business and services offered to local and international clients.
Dr. Yahia Abdullah Mohamed and his accompanying delegation have found the smart village an impressive model for smart villages, pointing out that this prototype smart village should be seriously considered in establishing Smart Village projects, particularly that this Egyptian model is entirely designed and executed by the Egyptian companies which have gained good reputation and experience in executing such giant projects worldwide.
