Egypt, Jordan sign MoU in ICT within joint committee activities

By Hamed Mahmoud

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh have witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support productive and close bilateral co-operation between the two countries in ICT. This came as part of the 29th Session of the Joint Egyptian-Jordanian Higher Committee, the main session of which was held yesterday in Amman, Jordan, chaired by the two countries Prime Ministers.

The MoU was signed by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, and the Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship in Jordan Ahmad Hanandeh.

Pursuant to the MoU, the available ICT and Post capabilities will be employed to support and enhance co-operation between Egypt and Jordan in several areas, including digital infrastructure, through utilising and extending the Egyptian international cable network to Jordan. This is in addition to exchanging the experiences and best practices adopted in the two countries in digital transformation and e-payment, to build a digital society and government.

The MoU entails co-operating in building people’s capacity in ICT and Post through taking advantage of the capabilities of the specialised training institutes in the two countries; exchanging experiences in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship incubators through empowering entrepreneurs in emerging digital technologies; and providing the necessary support to maximise the economic benefits.

This is in addition to carrying out an Egyptian-Jordanian initiative for technological innovation and entrepreneurship, to form joint teams to work on developing solutions and products that serve projects in the two countries, as well as organising joint conferences and competitions in technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

The MoU provides for co-operating and exchanging expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications; organising cloud computing services in the public and private sectors in the two countries; and studying the possibility of encouraging investment in those areas. This is in addition to collaborating in planning, Research and Development (R&D) and investment in ICT; and exchanging expertise in the relevant legislation and policies that will help create an enabling environment conducive to the development of the ICT and Post sectors work.

According to the MoU, the two sides will coordinate their stances in international and regional forums and international organisations specialised in ICT and Post, especially the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU). An Egyptian-Jordanian team will also be formed in ICT and Post to follow up on the implementation of the areas of co-operation.

Another bilateral discussion session was also held, chaired by the two Ministers, discussing ways to enhance co-operation in related areas. It was attended by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) CEO Amr Mahfouz, Telecom Egypt Managing Director and CEO Adel Hamed, and the Information Technology Institute (ITI) Chairwoman Heba Saleh.