The 50th Ordinary Session of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM) was held today, chaired by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat. The Session was hosted and chaired by the Arab Republic of Egypt, under the aegis of the League of Arab States (LAS), at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) headquarters in Smart Village.
The Director of LAS ICT Department Khaled Wali participated in the meeting. It was attended by representatives of ATICM seven member states: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen, and Palestine.
In his speech, Talaat underlined that the rapid technological developments necessitate strengthening bilateral and regional cooperation between member states. This is in addition to exchanging experiences and visions to maximize the ICT and post’s role in the Arab countries to continuously keep pace with the technological progress and enhance capabilities to address global challenges.
Talaat also pointed out that this periodic meeting has become an ideal opportunity to share experiences and discuss the most significant Arab, regional and international developments in the ICT and post areas. It is aimed to meet the common aspirations to benefit from digital technologies to serve the vital interests of the Arab countries.
The ICT Minister added that ATICM Executive Bureau has become the platform through which the Arab ICT sector and postal institutions in the Arab countries are developed. He pointed to the pivotal role of postal systems in the Arab countries to achieve digital inclusion, support e-commerce efforts, and encourage owners of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as well as small suppliers. He called for providing integrated support to these significant institutions, especially in light of their growing role.
The ICT Minister commended the results achieved by the Arab group in winning prizes from the Express Mail Service (EMS) Cooperative in 2021. He also praised the achievement made by the postal institutions in designing a unified Arab stamp in 2022, which bears the logo of the Arab League Summit, that will be held in Algeria in November. Talaat also commended the holding of Emirates 2022 World Stamp Exhibition last January on the sidelines of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Talaat referred to the unified Arab position that emerged during participating in various relevant international conferences, including the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) held last March in Switzerland. This is in addition to the effective Arab participation in the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in Rwanda last June. A common Arab vision was formulated by adopting Arab priorities for the coming years, represented in digital transformation, capacity building, entrepreneurship, and cybersecurity.
Furthermore, a number of Arab officials were elected as chairmen of two Study Groups of the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and one Study Group of ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), and vice-chairmen of different Study Groups of the two Sectors. Talaat pointed out that the Bureau will discuss Arab preparations for participating in relevant international conferences.
The ICT Minister also praised the activities and effective participation of ATICM regional bureaus and supervisory bodies in supporting joint Arab action. This is along with its effective role in cooperating with regional organizations to develop the Arab ICT strategy.
The ICT Minister thanked the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) for its tireless efforts to craft an Arab digital agenda in line with today’s requirements. He highlighted the significance of sharing a unified Arab perspective that includes a collective stance against global challenges, including the transition to a digital economy and the combating of all forms of cybercrime.
Talaat pointed out that Egypt passed the torch of the Arab Digital Capital on to Oman a few months ago, as Muscat was named the Arab Digital Capital for 2022, succeeding Egypt’s New Administrative Capital.
The ICT Minister also thanked ATICM Technical Secretariat and all those who contributed to providing recommendations related to the national and regional priority topics.
The meeting discussed several topics, most notably a review of the outcomes of the 41st Session of the Arab Permanent Postal Committee (APPC), and the 49th Session of the Arab Permanent Committee for ICT. Moreover, the meeting discussed the activities of ATICM supervisory bodies and highlighted the Arab cooperation with other regional groups and organizations as well as stakeholders in the ICT field.
Several topics related to cybersecurity, digital economy, Palestine, the Arab Digital Capital for 2023, and various initiatives proposed by the Arab countries were also discussed.
The meeting was attended by the Palestinian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Ishaq Sider, Yemeni Minister of Communications and Information Technology Najeeb Mansour Al-Auj, Ambassador of Tunisia to Egypt and Permanent Delegate at LAS Mohamed ben Youssef, Ambassador of Morocco to Egypt and Permanent Delegate at LAS Ahmed Tazi, Chairman of the Egyptian National Post Organization (ENPO) Sherif Farouk, Executive President of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) Hossam El-Gamal, Advisory Minister at the Algerian Embassy in Cairo Amine Said, General Manager for International Affairs at the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) and Saudi Arabia Councilor for ITU Mansour Alqurashi, and Chief of ICT Policies and Digital Development at ESCWA Ayman El-Sherbiny.
