The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has met with the Omani Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Maawali, via videoconference. The meeting has been held within the framework of the celebration of selecting Muscat as the Arab Digital Capital for 2022 to succeed the New Administrative Capital in Egypt.
The meeting was attended by Minister Plenipotentiary Ihab Soliman, the Director of the League of Arab States (LAS) Affairs – Deputy Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to LAS. The meeting was also attended by Senior Advisor at the Regional Office of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Ahmed El Raghy, and Telecommunications Expert at LAS-ICT Department of Development Reham El Mayet.
During the meeting, the ICT Minister congratulated his Omani counterpart on this occasion. He highlighted that the Arab Digital Capital Initiative is one of the successful results of the meetings of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM) of LAS, which recommended highlighting the successful Arab digital experiences and efforts in Arab capitals. These capitals carry the torch of sustainable technological development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era to exchange knowledge, visions, and experiences, thus achieving a promising Arab digital future for all Arab countries. This future is based on a number of pillars, including accelerating digital transformation, developing digital skills and capabilities, stimulating creativity and digital creative work, and creating a stimulating environment for investment in all Arab countries.
Talaat stated that selecting the New Administrative Capital as an Arab Digital Capital for 2021 was built on various visions. It is a green smart city, equipped with a host of advanced technology systems and an ecosystem that is based on a solid partnership among all stakeholders to serve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The New Administrative Capital is a modern contemporary city that prepares for a new era of ancient Egyptian civilization and provides to the world a civilized and humane pattern for a living environment, with an innovative concept and integrated urban development that promotes decent life, continuous social justice, integrated human services, and an environmentally friendly sustainable development.
He pointed out that the New Administrative Capital embodies Egypt’s plan to transform into a new generation of “smart sustainable and environmentally friendly cities” that include smart city technologies and provide a unified digital infrastructure and smart utility network. He added that the New Administrative Capital hosts the Knowledge City, which is a digital and information society through which research, innovation, and training in advanced technologies are promoted to prepare generations of innovators and technically talented people.
The Knowledge City hosts Egypt University of Informatics (EUI), which is specialized in ICT sciences and related fields. EUI is the first specialized informatics university in Africa and the Middle East that aims at offering world-class education and scientific research and providing capacity-building programs and consultancy. This university contributes to promoting human, social and economic development in Egypt, the brotherly Arab countries, and Africa, aspiring that Omani students can benefit from the great technological capabilities offered by the University to its students. He pointed out that that the Knowledge City also includes the first Industry 4.0 Innovation Center (IIC) in Egypt, as well as a training building that houses a branch for the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) and the Information Technology Institute (ITI), affiliated to MCIT, with the aim of providing specialized training for young people in the fields of advanced technology and communications.
Talaat referred to the initiatives launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to build digital capabilities with a focus on the policies that encourage women’s engagement, including “Maharah-Tech” initiative, which is one of the pillars of developing the capabilities of Arab youth, offering high-quality training courses in Arabic in various emerging technological fields. This is in addition to the Future Work is Digital (FWD) initiative, which aims to train 250,000 young people on future skills and jobs in the fields of advanced information technology through a virtual academy in partnership between the public and private sectors.
Talaat also hailed the role played by the Technical Secretariat of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM) and the Arab ICT Organization (AICTO), being the regional coordinator for this initiative, as well as the Arab Regional Office of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The initiative aimed at shedding light on the most prominent successful experiences in the Arab countries and reaping the benefit at the Arab level to create evolving digital society. He stated that the Egyptian state is keen to benefit from the experiences of brotherly countries and seeks to promote effective Arab cooperation at all levels in the ICT fields.
The Egyptian ICT Minister invited his Omani counterpart to visit Egypt to learn about the developments made in the Egyptian ICT sector.
For his part, the Omani Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Maawali congratulated the Egyptian ICT Minister on the success of the Arab Digital Capital during Egypt's leadership of this initiative in 2021. He pointed out that the progress made in the Egyptian ICT sector is a pioneering model and an example that can be followed by the rest of the Arab countries.
The Omani Minister also thanked the ATICM, under the umbrella of the League of Arab States (LAS), for their confidence and selection of Muscat as the Arab Digital Capital in 2022. He expressed pride in this selection, considering it an incentive to sustain the progress in the initiative launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The Omani Minister also reviewed the plans of the Sultanate of Oman to promote Muscat's Arab Digital Capital initiative and advance the ICT sector through implementing several technical initiatives.
He also invited the Egyptian ICT Minister to visit the Sultanate of Oman to learn about the Omani ICT sector.
