26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 Economy	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

High hopes for ICT Summit

A LANDMARK summit on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is due to be held in Dubai on 12 October. The summit, organised by Emirates Media Inc. and Dubai Internet City, is being promoted by his highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashed Al-Maktoum and Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa. The Arab ICT Summit will address issues of economic and social development in the Arab world and look at ways to accelerate them using ICT. It will be attended by ministers, high-level government officials and regional ICT business heads.

Omar Bin Sulaiman, CEO of Dubai Internet City (DIC) said that he hoped participants would take this opportunity to work towards upgrading and developing ICT throughout the region.

Speakers at the summit, including Sheikh Al-Maktoum and Amr Moussa, will explore the problems facing the region's ICT industry and present their suggestions and proposals for solving them via a unified regional approach.

Issues to be discussed will include state policies that enhance ICT, the development of infrastructure, the development of human capital, e-government initiatives and the development of an Arab presence on the Internet.

Ahmed Binbyat, General Director of Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority, hopes that the discussions at the summit will contribute to shaping a clear vision and road map for regional ICT development. He is also keen that the ideas and insights brought up at the summit will lead to joint Arab projects in the future.

Developing the food industry

A MEMORANDUM of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the Egyptian Exporters Association (EEA/Expolink) and Agriculture Led Export Businesses (ALEB), a USAID funded project, with the aim of developing the food processing industry in Egypt.

According to the MoU, a joint committee will be formed to conduct market research and look at export opportunities.

ALEB will provide members of EEA/Expolink with technical assistance and training programmes on areas such as strategic planning and human resource management.

It is hoped that the MoU will help EEA/Expolink emerge as a strong exporter. EEA/Expolink members will also be granted full access to reports and data provided by ALEB on various markets.

"Both organisations work in the agricultural sector and aim to develop the food processing industry with a view to increasing Egyptian exports," said Nagui El-Fayoumi, executive director of EEA/Expolink. "We hope that the outcome of this cooperation will be beneficial to Egyptian exporters," he added.

EEA/Expolink is a non-profit organisation dedicated to assisting Egyptian companies increase their exports of fresh and processed food, textiles, furniture, leather, building materials, and ICT (Information Communication Technology) products.

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