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| Even though government strategies and policies
are at the core of Egypt’s developmental efforts, the involvement of
international organizations is seen as having an essential implementation role.
Accordingly, MCIT has been actively involved in mutual cooperative
relationships with a number of international organizations.
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- European Union
- UNDP
- ITU
- WB
Cooperation with the European
Union MCIT created a department dedicated to European cooperation within its
International Relations Division in 2005, helping interested stakeholders in
benefiting from the different EU initiatives in ICT. MCIT aims to maintain
Egypt’s strong presence on the Euromed level in the ICT sector. The department
also engages in various innovation and research initiatives, with stress on
gaining knowledge from European development models.
IST 2006: Strategies for Leadership
November 2006
An official delegation from the ministry and its affiliates is attending the
event in Helsinki, representing Egypt as one of six non-EU countries, under the
banner of ‘A New Era for ICT in Egypt: R&D Promises and Challenges’. The
delegation participated in workshops and open discussions, and presented its
project, Culturama.
Framework Programs for Research and Technological Development (FP6 and FP7)
The second and third training workshops on the EU Framework Programs were held
in September, and a new steering committee created with the participation of
Nile University and the Information Technology Institute (ITI). The
Mediterranean Cooperation in Information Society Technologies (MED-IST)
approved a budget for Egypt to participate in EU funded research in the region.
ITIDA was designated as the Egyptian partner for the MAP-IT project, concerned
with knowledge mapping of research and development resources.
Institutional Twinning
In continuing efforts to spring development from knowledge sharing, the
Egyptian National Postal Authority (ENPO) signed an agreement with France’s La
Poste. NTRA is also pursuing a twinning proposal. In addition to this, MCIT
completed two Technical Assistance and Exchange Instrument Expert Mission
applications firstly to exchange best practices in multimedia within the EU,
and secondly to establish an Egyptian Geo-Information Technology Competence
Center.
Euromed activities
The EuroMed Innovation and Technology Program (MediIbtikar) began in April 2006
with an objective of strengthening new methods of disseminating innovative
practices within Mediterranean SMEs.
Final Conference of EUMEDIS
June 2006
Attended by some 40 stakeholders in EUMEDIS, the conference was held under the
auspices of MCIT in June 2006 and hosted by Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The
conference enabled further discussion in aspects of cooperation in healthcare
networks, e-commerce, innovation, tourism and education.
Cooperation with the UNDP
Cooperation with UNDP takes the form of a program called 'Institutional
Support and Strengthening Capacity of MCIT' from which a number of
projects emerge with the chief objective of facilitating increased access and
fostering use of ICT to achieve development goals in four main areas
Developing e-Access
Information Infrastructure
Enabling Environment
Human Resource Development
Egypt is one of the oldest members of the ITU Council and has also 16 sector
members from the private sector in council. Egypt is a founding member of the
Partners to Connect the World initiative and has chaired the Council Working
Group on International Telecommunications Regulation.
Egypt is an active participant in ITU-D activities, and has succeeded in
establishing the first regional subgroup in SG2. This will further enhance the
regional presence of ITU and will increase the involvement of developing
countries in the African and Arab regions.
MCIT, through its current aspects of cooperation with the World Bank and its
affiliates, is seeking technical support in a number of areas. The bank is
considered of great value in providing knowledge and management training
assistance.
Media Convergence Workshop
May 2006
Under the theme of ‘Convergence of Media and ICT in Egypt: Challenges, Policies
and Regulation’, the workshop was hosted by NTRA to bring together various
stakeholders to strategically analyze media convergence and the enabling
regulatory environment.
Technical Assistance Agreement
June 2006
Implemented during the third quarter of 2006 to be carried over a period of
eighteen months, the agreement enables cooperation in areas of postal sector
reform, media convergence and telecommunication policy, ICT development and
e-signature, and ICT regulation.
Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI)
May 2006
Launched at the WEF Regional Meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, the initiative will be
cooperating with the World Bank for its component of monitoring and evaluation
throughout the initiative.
 MoUs and
Protocols
MCIT
Missions Abroad
Visits of
Dignitaries to MCIT
Cooperation
with Regional Organizations
Cooperation with International Organizations
Cooperation
with Development Partners
International
Initiatives
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