The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has met with the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator Elena Panova and development advisor Antonio Vigilante, via videoconference, to discuss cooperation in implementing the projects of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in the “Decent Life” presidential initiative. Deputy ICT Minister for Infrastructure Raafat Hindy attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Talaat explained that the “Decent Life” initiative is one of the largest national projects that receives great attention from the state, as the efforts of all sectors are combined to develop the Egyptian countryside. He pointed to the participation of MCIT in the initiative with the aim of raising the efficiency of the information infrastructure of the villages and enabling citizens to effectively use ICT. This is based on four pillars, including linking villages with fiber-optic cables to raise the efficiency of internet services, improve the quality of telecommunication services, provide developed postal services, and build capabilities, and promote digital literacy.
The ICT Minister added that during the first phase of the initiative, investments amounting to about 5.8 billion EGP will be pumped to raise the efficiency of the internet for more than one million residential and governmental buildings in the villages of the initiative, to be the main pillar for providing Digital Egypt services and to implement the state’s goals in improving the living standard of citizens. Moreover, work is also performed to establish 1,000 new mobile stations supporting fourth generation (4G) technology, in addition to developing 839 post offices to provide financial, governmental and postal services, as well as implementing a number of programs aimed at developing and building digital capabilities and transforming Egyptian villages into interactive, productive digital societies.
The meeting witnessed a discussion on ways to provide support for the projects of MCIT and its affiliates within the framework of contributing to the implementation of the “Decent Life” initiative. Furthermore, the ICT Minister indicated the priority is given to providing support to the capacity building pillar, especially the capabilities of youth according to the training strategy pursued by MCIT, as well as the possibility of benefiting from financial support packages, especially in the context of the development of communications infrastructure in the “Decent Life” villages.
Panova praised the remarkable progress that Egypt is witnessing in the development of the telecommunications infrastructure, as well as the efforts exerted to develop digital skills and prepare competencies in various ICT sciences.
It is worth noting that the meeting comes within the framework of the efforts made by the UN Resident Coordinator to maximize the benefit from all mechanisms and UN agencies operating in Egypt. This is aiming at coordinating and integrating efforts and using the available resources in the best way in line with national priorities, where coordination is being conducted by contributing to the UN Action Plan (2023-2027), as well as by discovering new mechanisms in the field of innovation support.
In June 2021, the ministerial participation took place through the multilateral coordination platform provided by the Ministry of International Cooperation. Furthermore, a number of UN agencies and development partners participated through the platform, where Talaat reviewed the key features of MCIT strategy, including the contribution to the “Decent Life” initiative.
