The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has held several meetings during his visit to Estonia, heading a delegation including senior officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). The meetings aimed to discuss enhancing cooperation between Egypt and Estonia in achieving digital transformation, employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the government sector, and building digital capacity.
The Egyptian delegation held talks with Nortal, a leading digital transformation company, to discuss cooperation in achieving digital transformation and the transition to a participatory government as part of the Egyptian efforts to transform into an integrated digital society and build Digital Egypt.
Nortal has 1,000 experts across 18 offices in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The company helps leading healthcare institutions, governments, and businesses achieve long-term success via sustainable growth, improved efficiency, and agility.
The ICT Minister also met with Nortal CEO Priit Alamäe. Talaat referred to the cooperation between MCIT and all government agencies and state institutions to achieve the transition to a participatory paperless smart government. This is achieved through building a robust information infrastructure based on the latest ICTs to bring about digital transformation efficiently, in addition to developing applications and creating a single platform for the Egyptian government, where documents and correspondences are exchanged among all government agencies.
Talaat added that the government works to put the e-signature system into effect for state employees, digitize all government documents, build the capacities of employees in the state administrative apparatus, and equip them with digital skills to cope with the new work environment. Talaat invited Nortal to invest in Egypt and share its expertise in digital transformation and transition to a participatory government.
Relevantly, the ICT Minister met with the Head of the Law Department at TalTech Law School Tanel Kerikmäe to discuss cooperation in AI. The meeting discussed the top uses of AI in the government sector and the vast experience that Estonia possesses in this area. The Estonian government relies on more than 30 technological solutions within the framework of KrattAI, Estonia's vision of how public services should digitally work in the age of AI.
During the meeting, Talaat stated that Egypt launched its National AI Strategy to optimize public services, automate government operations, and employ AI in the decision-making process to raise efficiency and increase transparency. The Strategy will also help use AI in different sectors, build capacity, prepare citizens and institutions for the age of AI, improve Egypt's position on the regional and global maps of the AI industry, and engage effectively in discussing AI-related issues.
The meeting discussed relevant legislation aimed at supporting the use of AI in several areas, including smart transportation, healthcare, smart cities, and judiciary development. In addition, the meeting discussed cooperation in research and development (R&D).
Moreover, Talaat met with the Director of eGovernment Technologies at eGovernance Academy (eGA) Arvo Ott. eGA is a non-profit foundation: a joint initiative of the Government of Estonia, Open Society Institute (OSI), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Academy assists the public sector and civil society organizations through consultancy, training, networking, and research to make digital transformation happen.
The meeting discussed proposed areas of cooperation, most notably empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in digital transformation projects; upskilling youth in digital game development, cybersecurity, advanced technology, and blockchain; building the digital capacity of state employees; and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition, the meeting addressed the possibility of capitalizing on young Egyptian freelancers to cover the needs of ICT companies in Estonia.
The meetings were attended by Egypt’s Ambassador to Finland and Non-Resident Ambassador to Estonia Haitham Salah; Deputy Minister for Administrative Development, Digital Transformation and Automation Khaled El Attar; Assistant Minister for Strategy and Implementation Sherine El-Guindy; and Vice President of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency and Chairperson of the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) Hossam Osman.
