The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered the opening address at IDC Egypt CIO Summit 2022, co-organized by International Data Corporation (IDC) and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
In his speech, Talaat highlighted that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is implementing projects to build Digital Egypt, which adopts ICT in all aspects of life. Digital Egypt is a mega national project where all state agencies and the elements of the information society join forces to reach the desired goal, he added.
Talaat pointed out that the ICT sector grew at 16% in the current fiscal year, becoming the highest-growing state sector, reflecting its leading role in developing different sectors.
A beta version of the Digital Egypt Platform had been launched, said the ICT Minister. The platform now offers more than 130 digital government services. Talaat explained the efforts made to achieve digital transformation, including building the national information infrastructure and automating government operations for rendering the services available on the Digital Egypt Platform.
The coming period will cover two main project aspects concurrently, Talaat revealed. The aspects are the rollout of more digital services and the start of a project for restructuring government service-related applications in July. The project will be carried out with an estimated budget of EGP 2 billion over the next couple of fiscal years. The aim is to create a system of applications to provide public services through a variety of agencies and ministries.
MCIT is undertaking several projects in cooperation with different state sectors. The projects include automating the universal health insurance system; automating university hospitals; issuing the farmer’s card; and automating the agricultural system in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, serving about eight million farmers across different villages.
Other projects include law enforcement, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, and the Public Prosecution; automation of Egyptian courts; and introduction of the remote litigation system in economic courts nationwide. Projects in the pipeline include introducing the remote litigation system, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, to serve citizens.
Moreover, the ICT Minister underlined that human development is the cornerstone of MCIT strategy, which involves creating a talent pool through initiatives for providing training in different technology specializations. This is in addition to initiatives for improving university graduates’ non-technical skills, helping them shift careers to work in tech fields.
MCIT also carries out training programs to encourage young people to work on freelancing platforms, Talaat said. He also pointed to the Digital Egypt Cubs Initiative (DECI), which targets school students and has received a large number of applications since its launch a few weeks ago.
As part of its efforts to foster innovation and promote creative thinking, MCIT established more than 11 CREATIVA Innovation Hubs to incubate and develop young peoples’ entrepreneurial ideas and host networking forums to bring youth together with investors, the ICT Minister remarked. Egyptian startups managed to attract about $490 million of investments in 2021, up from $190 million in 2020.
Furthermore, Talaat underscored that the telecommunications infrastructure is crucial for carrying out different operations within the ICT sector. In 2019, a project was launched to support the fixed infrastructure with EGP 60 billion investments as the first phase of the project, helping boost Internet speed and ranking Egypt first in Africa in median fixed broadband speed.
The second phase of the project will kick off in the next fiscal year, with investments of EGP 40 billion, including implementing Fiber To The Home (FTTH) in urban areas. The second phase will also involve carrying out projects as part of the Decent Life initiative since the government is keen on facilitating access to broadband Internet to improve the quality of life. FTTH is implemented in the villages targeted within the first phase of Decent Life at an estimated cost of EGP 5.8 billion.
Talaat added that 35,000 government buildings nationwide are being connected through a fiber-optic network, within the framework of the Digital Egypt strategy.
It is worth mentioning that IDC Egypt CIO Summit addresses the topic of accelerating digital transformation agendas. The summit has been serving as a leading platform for experts and thought leaders in the ICT industry in Egypt since 2015. International and local ICT companies are participating in this year’s summit.
On the sidelines of the summit, an exhibition has been organized, hosting pavilions of the sponsors, where they showcased their latest digital solutions.
