Bid to boost ties with Sweden in AI and entrepreneurship

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has received the Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt Håkan Emsgård. They discussed enhancing co-operation in ICT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), fintech, innovation, entrepreneurship, smart cities, cybersecurity, and applied research, as well as benefiting from the Swedish expertise in applying technology in various sectors to serve citizens.

During the meeting, Talaat stressed Egypt’s keenness to invest in human development. Egypt is one of the leading countries in exporting its young talents to countries in need of skilled persons, such as Sweden and low-population countries. He reviewed Digital Egypt strategy and the efforts made to achieve digital transformation and build the Egyptian citizen through providing different levels of capacity building programmes in ICT, as well as launching and implementing programmes and initiatives to promote technological innovation and entrepreneurship among young people.

The ICT Minister highlighted the role played by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in Decent Life initiative and the country’s huge efforts to provide Internet connection to every citizen in the villages targeted within the initiative. He added that Internet connection is no longer a luxury but a basic right for every citizen and a key tool to obtain different government services as part of building Digital Egypt.

For his part, Emsgård said that he was happy to meet with the Minister. The Swedish Ambassador praised the efforts made at the national level and stressed the important role of modern technology in improving the quality of life for citizens all over the world.

Emsgård invited the Minister to visit Sweden and explore the Swedish experience in building smart cities, attracting startups –especially since the Swedish entrepreneurship ecosystem is one of the fastest growing systems worldwide – and developing financial technologies, as Sweden is one of the leading countries in achieving the transition to a cashless society.