The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has held a number of meetings with officials of a number of Japanese ICT companies, on the sidelines of his visit to Japan, heading a high-level delegation, to participate in G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy.

Talaat met with Executive Vice President at NEC Toshiya Matsuki, where they discussed the possibility of establishing a regional office for the company in Egypt, to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), as well as a research and development (R&D) center, similar to the one established by the company in Europe, to develop the company’s products that target developing the integrated systems, big data, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), e-learning, cybersecurity, and data science.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the possibility of carrying out joint R&D projects in Egypt, in cooperation with various ministries, to find technological solutions for the agriculture and transportation sectors. They also discussed cooperation in IT technical support and building capacity of Egyptian youth in specialized areas, including cloud computing, big data, and AI.

NEC is a Japanese multinational company that specializes in IT and network technologies, with an experience spanning over 100 years in technological innovation.

Furthermore, the ICT Minister met with Executive Vice President at Fujitsu Naoyoshi Takatsuna, where they discussed how to benefit from the company’s expertise in establishing a regional Center for Excellence (CoE) in Egypt, and an R&D and IT technical support lab to serve EMEA region, focusing on cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, digital transformation, and AI. They also discussed cooperation in capacity building.

Fujitsu is a Japanese company specializing in manufacturing supercomputers, personal computers, servers, and communications technology.

Moreover, Talaat met with President of the Assistive Technology Development Organization (ATDO) Shigeru Yamauchi, and Vice President Jun Ishikawa. They discussed the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that entails establishing a joint institute between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and ATDO, to set and implement standards for training programs. This is in addition to enhancing joint cooperation and communication between innovators, researchers, Egyptian and Japanese companies in advanced technology, as well as cooperating to localize applications designed in Japanese.

In addition, the ICT Minister met with officials from OPTiM for AI and IoT, including Executive Officer for global affairs Keiichi Yokoyama and Executive Officer for AI and IoT platform Daisuke Yamamoto. They discussed cooperation in using smart solutions in agriculture, and the possibility of establishing partnership through having a center of applied research in Egypt.

Talaat also met with President of Hiroshima University Mitsuo Ochi. They signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the aim to open avenues of cooperation between MCIT and the university, to provide distinguished educational services to the Egyptian youth through sharing and exchanging experiences, developing educational curricula, implementing training programs, and qualifying calibers in capacity building in areas including IoT, data science, AI, and cybersecurity.

From the Egyptian side, the meeting was attended by Associate ICT Minister for Networks and ICT Infrastructure Hossam El-Gamal, Chairwoman of the Information Technology Institute (ITI) Heba Saleh, ICT Minister’s Advisor for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Golestan Radwan, Director of International Relations Division at MCIT Mohamed El Gawsaky, and a number of MCIT officials.