The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has received the Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Maxim Parshin, who is visiting Cairo heading a trade mission in telecommunication technologies, digital solutions, and cybersecurity.
The meeting dealt with the investment opportunities in the Egyptian ICT sector and the ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in related fields, especially building digital capacity and providing technological solutions.
During the meeting, Talaat underlined that Egypt and Russia have strong ties at the political and economic levels. He pointed out the efforts exerted to strengthen the bilateral relations in ICT. Talaat also reviewed Digital Egypt strategy, which aims to achieve the transformation into an integrated digital society, based on three main pillars: digital transformation, digital skills, and digital innovation.
The ICT Minister explained the competitive advantages and various opportunities available in the Egyptian ICT sector in view of its continuous growth and the implementation of many projects to build Digital Egypt. He said that looks forward to attracting Russian companies to invest in the Egyptian ICT market.
Talaat said that Egypt focuses on investing in human capital, qualifying young people to fill in-demand jobs in local and international labor markets. He added that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is following a pyramid-shaped approach for capacity building to upskill the different segments of the society in various ICT domains.
Moreover, the ICT Minister highlighted that MCIT is carrying out Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI), which offers a professional master’s degree in majors including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science, automation and robotics, cybersecurity, and digital Arts. DEBI is implemented in collaboration with top-notch international universities specializing in ICT.
Talaat said that he looks forward for collaboration with the top Russian ICT universities such as Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Furthermore, Talaat referred to the visit of RusHighTechExport CEO and Former Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Konstantin Noskov, to Egypt in 2019, heading a delegation of public and private sectors’ officials. During the visit, a matchmaking event was organized, bringing Egyptian and Russian companies together.
For his part, Parshin stressed that his country has 20 years of experience in digitization and is the world’s top country in the field of cybersecurity. He added that there are about 50,000 Russian companies specializing in IT. Parshin also said that Egypt is a strategic partner, commending its initiatives and projects to achieve the digital transformation as well as its major telecommunication projects in Africa.
The Russian Deputy Minister said that his country is eager to cooperate and share its expertise in areas of common interest, including developing technological solutions, indigenizing Russian technology in Egypt, and producing Egyptian products with Russian technology. This is in addition to cooperating in training and capacity building through offering scholarships from Russian universities and companies, co-funding projects and cooperating in ICT-related regulatory and legislative frameworks.
The meeting was attended by the Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development Ghada Labib and the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz.
Parshin and his delegation visited the premises of ITIDA and Telecom Egypt. They met with officials from the two sides to discuss cooperation.
