Its work includes information exchange and awareness-raising on policies, legislation, regulations and business practices that promote digital inclusion, through the ITU website: https://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx , and the Girls' ICT Portal, the Model Policy on ICT Accessibility report, the "Digital Opportunities: Innovative ICT Solutions for Youth Employment" report and the "Cryptographic Training Programs: A Strategy for Youth Employment" report and the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Resource Database, our blog, publications and awareness-raising events. This work takes a holistic approach that recognizes that the activities of one group have a positive impact on other groups.
Within the framework of the keenness of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States to develop and spread awareness in the Arab community, the symposium on Digital Inclusion in the Arab region was held on Thursday 26 September 2019, where the main focus of the symposium was digital inclusion in the Arab region, with the aim of organizing an activity during the week of digital inclusion which coincides with the last week of September 2019,
which was called for by the ITU Arab Regional Office in collaboration with UNESCO under the title "Health, Education and Big Data for the Promotion of Welfare", the week will seek to expand participation, promote individual and community well-being and achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (especially Goal 3 and 4). By leveraging ICT as an enabler.
For more details about the previous seminar, please visit:
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/ArabStates/Pages/Events/2019/DIW/DIW.aspx
The seminar was attended by managers and employees of the economic sector, as well as the Department of Sustainable Development and International Cooperation, the Department of Education and Scientific Research and the Department of Training and Development of Business Processes.
The symposium was inaugurated by Dr. Thamer Al-Ani, on behalf of HE Dr. Kamal Hassan Ali, Head of the Economic Affairs Sector, welcoming the guests wishing them and the seminar success and accomplishment, and then the session was moderated by Dr. / Khaled Wali, Director of the Department of Communications and Information Technology Development.
Dr. Sherif Genena, former Vice-Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Chairman of the former ITU Second Study Group, talked about the background of blockchain technology and how it works and its application areas including civil registry, banks, documentation, electronic voting and Internet of things, leasing finance, bank letters of credits, health insurance, drones, driverless cars. In addition to the activities of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in this area and the future expectations of Block Chain and its recommendations, including securing the chains of the blocks under research to reach the highest levels of insurance and confidence, the importance of teaching these technologies in universities and activate studies and scientific research to enable them and adapt them. Finally, it is important to follow up the scientific and professional activities, especially the standardization efforts of these technologies in the ITU, and the recommendations on the regulations and policies issued by the ITU as an international organization mainly involving governments, with the participation of the private sector and academia. (The presentation can be downloaded .pdf).
Dr. Abdel Wahab Ghoneim, Vice President of the Arab Union for Digital Economy, talked about the types of information and its importance as the new gold now in the world, as well as the fourth industrial revolution, including the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, the fifth generation of mobile, financial technology, stereoscopic printing and Nano technology. He also talked about the stages of digital transformation and the challenges facing Arab countries in this transformation of the digital divide, the weakness and absence of laws and legislations, the absence of bank accounts for more than 90% of the population, electronic piracy, information security and confidentiality, weak technological infrastructure in most Arab countries, lack of human resources specialized in information technology and various disciplines, and lack of confidence in electronic stores, the most important recommendations are to accelerate the integration and implementation of the digital transformation plan, the establishment of Arab cloud computing, entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution through the establishment of a center for innovation and creativity for the development of smart applications, the establishment of the Arab Data Bank and the manufacture of products based on the Internet of Things and nanotechnology. (The presentation can be downloaded .pdf)
