The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered a speech at the meeting of the Senate Committee on Foreign, Arab, and African Affairs, chaired by Senator Hazem Omar.
The meeting was attended by Deputies Effat El-Sadat and Samaa Soliman, Secretary-General Aida Nassef, and members of the Committee, as well as Egypt Post Chairman Sherif Farouk, Executive President of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) Hossam El-Gamal, and Telecom Egypt CEO and Managing Director Adel Hamed.
The ICT Minister stated that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) attaches importance to Egyptian expatriates’ issues by working based on two main pillars. The first pillar is facilitating their access to entitlements and services with the Egyptian government through digital channels. The second is leveraging the knowledge and expertise of those specialized in ICT.
Talaat underlined that a mobile application will be launched, embedded with an e-signature tool, enabling Egyptian expatriates to receive Digital Egypt Platform services (about 170 services, so far) from home, without having to visit the Egyptian consulate. The application will include data, news, and information of interest to Egyptian expatriates. Furthermore, Egypt Post is to cooperate with postal operators in other countries to deliver service-related documents to expatriates’ residences, added the ICT Minister.
Talaat said that an e-signature tool will be used to verify the service requester’s identity. He added that a committee was formed, with members from MCIT, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs. It has been working for three months on developing the system and regulations. He clarified that expatriates can receive an e-signature tool from mobile network operators (MNOs) stores or the Egyptian consulate.
MCIT is keen on creating a database of high-achiever expatriates, successful ICT specialists, to benefit from their expertise and skills, Talaat stated. He revealed that expatriate experts have been recruited as members of the National Council for AI.
The Ministry also included three expatriate professors as members of the Board of Trustees of Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) to enrich EUI programs with their expertise in modern education, training practices and advancements in science. The professors join EUI meetings via videoconference, the ICT Minister added.
Talaat highlighted that MCIT reaches out to expatriate professors working in international universities to establish partnerships between those universities and EUI, and Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI), which grants a professional master's degree in high tech disciplines.
Expatriates are also recruited in the electronics design committee, within the framework of MCIT strategy for boosting local electronics design and increasing the number of professionals in that high value industry.
The ICT Minister remarked that MCIT cooperates with the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs in events and activities by the latter to keep second- and third-generation emigrants posted about the projects implemented in Egypt and have them connected with their homeland. MCIT introduces them to the most prominent ICT projects, Talaat highlighted.
During the meeting, Talaat and members of the Committee discussed the digital services provided to Egyptian expatriates and ways to offer more services. They also delved into MCIT efforts in developing the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) and the role of Egyptian expatriates as a soft power to retain Egypt’s leadership.
