The 45th Ordinary Session of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM) was held today, chaired by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, and organized by the Technical Committee of the League of Arab States (LAS) chaired by Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs at LAS Kamal Hassan Ali.
The meeting was attended by representatives of ATICM seven member states: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Tunisia, Libya, and Lebanon, and held at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) headquarters in Smart Village.
In his speech, Talaat underlined the significance of enhancing joint Arab work and synergizing efforts to develop unified visions on key relevant issues, and coordination of Arab positions in international events.
The ICT Minister thanked the Arab countries for their effective participation in the 36th Session of the Arab Permanent Postal Committee (APPC) hosted in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, during which important decisions pertaining to the protection of Arab rights in post related issues and the development of its services were made. This is in addition to choosing the unified Arab postage stamp.
Talaat, also, thanked the Arab working groups for their huge efforts in the regulatory issues, structure development, Internet affairs, and in crafting the Arab ICT strategy.
Moreover, the ICT Minister stated that Palestine’s issues are an integral part of Arab meetings, supporting the rights of brothers in Palestine in various issues. He said that the openness of Arab work to international and regional organizations, be it the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the African Union (AU), cooperation with China, the Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO), the Arab Regulators Network of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (AREGNET), or the Arab Women Organization (AWO), enriches and enhances Arab work.
Talaat invited the attendees to participate in World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) hosted in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in October. He expressed confidence that the Arab group will effectively participate in WRC, and will be able to outline a common position of the various issues that will be discussed during the conference, serving Arab interests.
At the beginning of the meeting, the attendees observed a minute of silence to remember the late Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms of cooperation among Arab countries to develop and improve ICT and post areas. The Executive Bureau’s recommendations will be discussed during ATICM next session that will be held in Riyadh in the fourth quarter of this year, to be adopted and put into action.
Furthermore, the meeting discussed a range of topics, the most significant of which was approving the Saudi proposal of choosing Riyadh as the Arab digital capital for 2020. Cairo was chosen as the Arab digital capital for 2021, as well. This initiative targets supporting Arab youth through ICTs, and enriching creative work, innovative thinking, and entrepreneurship.
The meeting, also, discussed the implementation of the Regional Development Plan (RDP) - Arab Region (2017–2020), the proposals for developing the ICT community in the Arab world, the Arab digital agenda 2030, and the outcomes of the Regional Strategy Forum for the Arab Region held in Sharm El Sheikh in July.
In addition, the meeting discussed the Arab recommendations for the membership of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Council of Administration (CA) and Postal Operations Council (POC), the outcomes of the 44th Arab Permanent ICT Committee and its working group meetings, and APPC working group meetings and its 36th meeting actions.
Moreover, the meeting discussed the activities of ATICM supervisory bodies, including the ITU Arab Regional Office, the Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO), and the Arab Regulators Network (AREGNET).
In addition, Palestine’s issues were discussed, as well as the Arab joint cooperation with other regional groups and organizations in ICTs. This is in addition to the Arab initiative for Internet governance in the Arab region, the Regional Arab Digital Content Forum actions, and the Arab Group for Space Collaboration.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Telecom and Information Technology of Palestine Ishaq Sadr, Deputy Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Majed Al Mesmar, Acting Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the League of Arab States (LAS) Jimmy Zakhia Douaihy, Libyan Ambassador to Egypt Saleh Abdul Wahed, and Deputy Governor for Technology and Infrastructure at the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) Majed Al-Mazyed.
