Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, received Arkan Shehab, Minister of Communications of the Republic of Iraq, who is currently visiting Egypt at the head of a high-level delegation that includes government officials and representatives of the Iraqi private sector; With the aim of supporting aspects of joint cooperation between Egypt and Iraq in the fields of communications, information technology and mail in light of the memorandum of understanding that was signed between the two countries yesterday at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
The two ministers chaired an expanded meeting that included a number of executive leaders from the Egyptian and Iraqi sides. During which, they discussed and discussed mechanisms to activate cooperation, exchange experiences, and stimulate joint initiatives in a number of related fields, which were included in the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries, namely the areas of infrastructure, digital transformation, capacity building, postal services, Arab digital content, innovation and entrepreneurship, and cybersecurity. Research and development, and investment in the field of communications and information technology, in addition to the fields of satellites, the legislative and regulatory framework, and technological areas.
During the meeting; Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stressed the depth of Egyptian and Iraqi relations, and that there are directives from the political leaders of the two countries to intensify joint cooperation. He pointed out that the communications and information technology sector is a common denominator in development projects in all sectors, which makes it the locomotive for this cooperation between the two countries to serve as a role model in joint Arab cooperation.
Amr Talaat announced that there is consensus on the proposal submitted by the Iraqi Minister of Communications regarding the establishment of an Egyptian-Iraqi company to start digital transformation projects and mechanization of services in Iraq, where a joint team from the two countries will work to crystallize the idea and bring it into effect. He stressed that a joint committee will be formed to translate the axes of cooperation into short-term operational plans; And that he is ready to accept the invitation of the Iraqi Minister of Communications to visit Iraq; He expressed the Egyptian companies' aspiration to work in the Iraqi market with their Iraqi counterparts.
Amr Talaat explained that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is putting all its capabilities and expertise to support joint cooperation. He stressed that he and his Iraqi counterpart, during their meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister, reviewed the axes of cooperation that were agreed upon, which include communications and interconnection, establishing joint projects in the field of digital transformation and mechanizing government services, exchanging visions and experiences between the two postal institutions in the two countries and activating cooperation in the field of services. Postal mail and the provision of financial services to Egyptians in Iraq and to Iraqis through Egypt Post, in addition to cooperation in the field of capacity building and deepening technical expertise in the sciences of communications and information technology through cooperation between Egyptian training institutions and their Iraqi counterparts, sponsoring innovative thought and entrepreneurship, and establishing joint start-up companies between Iraqi and Egyptian youth As well as cooperation in the fields of cybersecurity, satellite communications, and the governance of the communications and information technology sector to provide better services to citizens.
For his part, Arkan Shehab, Minister of Communications of the Republic of Iraq, stressed that there is a political will to establish real partnerships and open horizons for cooperation between Egypt and Iraq, given the strategic importance of the two countries, and the similarity and congruence between the two ministries, which will contribute to the completion of work. Explaining the great interest that Iraq attaches to the implementation of the interconnection project; He praised the Egyptian experience in digital transformation and Iraq's interest in directly benefiting from these experiences through training and qualification, and the establishment of an Egyptian-Iraqi holding company to serve as a legal and regulatory framework through which to work to implement projects in the Iraqi market that serve the Iraqi people and government institutions and represent an added investment value for both sides.
Shehab added that the postal project is of great importance to Iraq; Expressing his aspiration to deepen cooperation in this field and for Egypt to be one of the main countries to which the Iraqi postal traffic is transferred due to the experience of Egypt Post in providing different postal services to benefit depositors; He pointed out that work will be done to establish a partnership and twinning between the Iraqi and Egyptian Training Institute to qualify cadres.
Arkan Shehab invited Dr. Amr Talaat to visit Iraq; Stressing that a business forum will be organized in Iraq, through which Egyptian companies will be invited to get to know Iraq's promising market and work with it; The Iraqi government will provide all facilities and facilitate procedures.
Ambassador Khaled Anis, Assistant Foreign Minister for the Arab Mashreq countries, stressed that there is a vision and direction for the Egyptian leadership to deepen relations with Iraq. The Egyptian-Iraqi Higher Committee was held in Baghdad under the chairmanship of the prime ministers of the two countries and resulted in many memoranda of understanding. The past months have witnessed numerous visits by Iraqi officials to Cairo to sign many agreements; Appreciating the Iraqi parliament’s decision to adopt the oil-for-reconstruction mechanism with Egypt, which represents an important step in supporting bilateral relations and can be used in the areas of communications, transportation and housing; He referred to the development of Egyptian-Iraqi-Jordanian relations in light of work on implementing joint strategic projects in various fields.
During the meeting, Khaled Al-Attar, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Digital Transformation, Mechanization and Administrative Development, reviewed the efforts made to achieve digital transformation and mechanization of government services in Egypt.
Meanwhile, Ghada Labib, Deputy Minister for Institutional Development, indicated a summary of the Iraqi delegation's visit to the institutions and entities affiliated with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, explaining the proposed areas of cooperation between the two countries.
Sherif Farouk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Post Authority, said that the commonalities between Iraqi Post and Egypt Post in terms of services, activities and citizens' trust help build joint innovative business models that benefit citizens in both countries.
Hossam El-Gamal, CEO of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority, referred to the proposed areas of cooperation between the two telecom regulatory agencies in Egypt and Iraq.
Amr Mahfouz, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Authority, explained the authority's plans and programs to support innovation and entrepreneurship, and opportunities for cooperation in developing joint mechanisms to raise the efficiency of emerging, small and medium companies.
Mohamed Nasr, Assistant Minister for the International Information Infrastructure, reviewed Egypt's efforts to invest in international cables, and the proposed areas of cooperation in interconnection.
During the meeting, the Iraqi delegation reviewed the features of the communications, information technology and postal sector in Iraq. The Iraqi side also shared its proposals to support bilateral cooperation between the two countries in related fields.
The meeting was attended by the Iraqi side; Somaya Rashid, Deputy Iraqi Ambassador in Cairo and responsible for the bilateral and political file at the embassy, Wadi Karim Wadi, Senior Technical Undersecretary at the Ministry of Communications, Hamdan Owaijel Rashid, Advisor to the Ministry of Communications, Adam Najm Abd, Director General of the Planning and Follow-up Department at the Ministry of Communications, and Salem Abdel Hassan Mahmoud, Director of Planning at the General Postal and Savings Company, Yasser Amer Abdel-Jabbar, director of the Informatics Directorate at the General Company for Communications and Informatics, Ali Raouf Hammoud, assistant director of the Infrastructure Directorate at the General Company for Communications and Informatics, Baida Ghazi Mahdi, the office of the senior technical agent, Louay Abdel Latif from the General Salam Company, and Ahmed Raouf from Skopsky Company, and Ali Hussein from Earthlink.
It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Minister of Communications is visiting Egypt at the head of a high-level delegation from 16 to 18 June; To complete the discussions held under the chairmanship of the two ministers via video conference last March, during which prospects for cooperation between the two countries were discussed in light of the recommendations of the virtual meeting of experts from both sides held last February with the aim of mutual exploration of capabilities and resources available to each country in the ICT sector, and a review of national challenges and how Converting them into promising and significant cooperation opportunities between the two countries.
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