The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat headed to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, heading a high-level delegation, on a two-day working visit, to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in ICT, especially in fields related to digital transformation, digital capacity building, technological innovation, cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The visit comes in response to an invitation from the Minister of the Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania Aušrinė Armonaitė to the ICT Minister to visit Lithuania. The invitation was presented by the Ambassador of Lithuania to Egypt Artūras Gailiūnas. It aims to closely explore the technological advancement in Lithuania and hold talks to enhance cooperation in areas of common interest.
During his visit, Talaat met with the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania Marius Skuodis. They discussed enhancing cooperation and exchanging experiences between the two countries in digital government as well as ICT and Post infrastructure development. During the meeting, the ICT Minister reviewed the progress achieved by Egypt in digital transformation and its strategic plan to transform the government into a participatory paperless smart one, within the framework of synergizing the efforts of the state's sectors to build Digital Egypt.
In a related context, Talaat met with the Director of Innovation Agency Lithuania Romualda Stragienė to enhance cooperation between the two countries in using emerging technologies and AI in providing innovative solutions to the government and focusing on various significant areas, such as the environment, agriculture, water, and health.
In a similar vein, Talaat held an extensive meeting with Armonaitė to enhance cooperation between the two countries in adopting digital transformation, developing innovative technological solutions to achieve digital transformation in government services provided to citizens, and supporting ICT startups.
The ICT Minister met also with INFOBALT Director Mindaugas Ubartas and various Lithuanian companies specialized in the ICT industry. The meeting highlighted the promising investment opportunities in the Egyptian ICT sector and the incentives and facilities that Egypt provides to attract foreign investments.
In addition, Talaat discussed collaboration with the Chair of the Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT) of the Republic of Lithuania Jūratė Šovienė in digital services and telecommunications regulations.
He also met with Vice Minister of National Defense Margiris Abukevičius and Director of the Cyber Security Management Department Jonas Skardinskas to discuss promoting cooperation and exchanging expertise in boosting cybersecurity and tackling cyber threats. They also considered collaborating in cyberspace security and exchanging knowledge on the best practices and policies. Other points of discussion included cooperating in building digital skills, training young people to become cybersecurity specialists, exchanging experts, and carrying out joint Research and Development (R&D) projects in cybersecurity.
The ICT Minister met with the Head of Strategic Development at the State Enterprise Centre of Registers (SECR) Adrijus Jusas. They discussed collaborating and exchanging expertise in digital services, e-signature, and open data. The meeting shed light on the areas of work of SECR, which manages state information resources.
Concluding his visit, Talaat met with Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH) Rector Romualdas Kliukas to introduce MCIT capacity-building strategy. During the meeting, the two sides discussed establishing potential academic and research partnerships and fostering cooperation to build young Egyptians’ skills in modern technology.
