Update November 2000: Mediterranean Countries

1.Introduction

The ESIS Knowledge Base and its accompanying national reports provide numerous key person contacts and organisations that are involved in Information Society development in the Mediterranean area.

This report is a synthesis based only on changes concerning key persons and organisations that have occurred between July and September 2000 reported by ESIS national contractors

2. Changes between July and September 2000

2.1 Ministries and governmental organisations.

Governmental bodies and administrations play a major role in a lot of aspects of the Information Society. They are implicated in the national projects. Moreover, they prepare national development programs and they initiate the implementation of key telecommunications and Internet networks.

During the last three months in Syria a Consultative Committee on e-commerce has been formed by the Prime Minister. Its members are:

• The Minister of Transport
• The Deputy Minister of Economy & External Trade
• The Deputy Minister of Finance
• The Deputy Minister of Justice
• The Director General of STE
• A representative of the Syrian Computer Society (Dr. Maher Mujtahed).

This committee is supposed to study all aspects of e-commerce and suggest the needed amendments to the laws and regulations in order to prepare the groundwork for the promotion and dissemination of e-commerce in Syria.

In Malta, the Government is preparing a legislative framework for IS. The new Telecommunications Services Regulations Act has been debated in parliament and subsequently enacted. The next phase to actuate these regulations will be for government to set up a Telecommunications Authority that will perform the function of a telecommunications regulator. The appointment of a chairperson for the Telecommunication Authority expected to be announced later this year. Second, a white paper on the legislative framework for information practices comprising draft bills on Electronic commerce and Data protection was published earlier on this year. The bill was taken through the first reading in parliament

In Lebanon, a new public entity in charge of IS related fields has been created by the Council of Ministers : The National ICT Committee. Under the chairmanship of the Minister of Economy and Trade, Dr SAIDI, the Committee is composed of officials from different public bodies:

• Ing. Ali NAHLE, Head of IT department at the Central Bank
• General Nabil MANSOUR, Head of the Military School
• Dr Issam ABDELKADER, Advisor to the Prime Minister
• Ing. Naji ANDRAOUS, Director General of equipment at MPT
• Ing. Ahmad OWEYDAT, Director General of maintenance at MPT
• Dr Raymond KHOURY, Head of the cooperation division at OMSAR
• Mr Fadi MUNLA, Director at the CDR
• Mr Kamal HAYEK, CEO of IDAL.

In Syria, Dr. Ghassan Al-Lahham was appointed the new president of the Syrian Computer Society (SCS).

Mr. Ali ABDULKARIM was appointed as new General Director for the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the official Syrian news agency.

Some other countries have experienced important political changes within the government. For Instance, in Algeria, a new Prime Minister has been appointed. M. Ahmed Benbitour has been replaced by M. Ali Benflis. M. Mahieddine Amimour has been appointed as the new Minister of Communication and Culture in replacing M. Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Some governmental organisations are giving a great impulse to the Information Society. For instance, in Turkey, the recently established independent telecommunication regulation authority has started organising appointments between the board members.

Some of these organisations have a more international role. Indeed, Lebanon and the European Union ratified the Agreement concerning the establishment of a focal point for Euro-Mediterranean initiatives. Minister SAIDI and EU Ambassador to Lebanon, Dimitri KOURKOULAS held a joint press conference to announce the event on the 17^th of September. The focal point will contribute to the development of the new economy in Lebanon through actions of dissemination and awareness.

In Morocco, major changes have touched SEPTI. Indeed, after the government re-election, Mr. Nacer HAJJI took the place of Mr. Larbi AJJOUL at the head of SEPTI. Mr Tayyeb BENNANI, professor at EMI (Mohammadia school of engineering) has been nominated as General Secretary of SEPTI and Mrs Najat ROCHDI ex-advisor to SEPTI has been nominated as Director of general affairs at SEPTI.

At last, in Egypt, The ministry of Information and Telecommunications headed by Dr. Eng. Ahmed Nazif has set-up four working groups to work on the relevant legislation, telecommunications infrastructure, the development and promotion of new telecommunications services, and the human resource development.

2.2 Universities and Research Institutes

Universities and research institutes have a very important role in the generation and the implementation of IS projects. However, the summer quarter is a period of recess for nearly all academic activities what explains that nothing more occurred in this field.

Nevertheless, in Lebanon, it is to be noted that the Arab Ministers of education held a conference in Beirut to discuss a project for an Open Arab University to start operating in 2001. Further discussion were necessary to decide upon the location of this pan-Arab institution.

2.3 Private companies

In Morocco. Mr Daniel HAYLI, a graduate of Cornell University, has created the start-up B-link management (JobMaroc) in Casablanca. Moreover, Mr Julian BARACHEA has left the post of president of MediTelecom.