There is an obvious willingness and eagerness from all the Algerian social and political actors to follow the trail brought about Globalisation and ICTs era. Several promotional actions and initiatives in favour of the development of the information society have been undertaken during the last quarter (January - April 2000).

At a regional level, and in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation framework, Algeria is involved in several programs and initiatives related to the promotion of the Information Society.

Information Technologies Nodes project, EUMEDIS initiative and IST program are examples of regional actions in which Algeria takes part.

At a national level, the latest change of the Government, that occurred in December 1999, reinforces the previous government policy towards a more free market and the liberalisation of different economic sectors including that of posts and telecommunications (P&T). As a matter of fact, the new nominated minister of P&T has recently focused on the fact that the sector must undergo deep changes in the nearest future. These changes will, no doubt, impulse the IS development for which the development of the telecom infrastructure is a necessary background.

Within the private sector or the public one, more and more projects and initiatives are dealing with the introduction of PCs in the daily activities (administrations, schools, hospitals, libraries, etc.).

Networking as well is now one of the concerns of companies’ managers. The local authorities have also been aware of the issues and the opportunities of ICTs and their impact on the progress of the country.

Add to that, there a growing interest led by the media in general, some magazines and newspapers in particular, which save more and more room in their columns to the following subjects: ICTs, Internet and the Information society.

For instance, "Le Jeune Indépendant" a daily national newspaper, dedicates two full pages to the latest developments and innovations as far as the IS is concerned.

And more concretely, regular meetings and shows dedicated to this matter are organised all over the country. There are even five famous appointments that take place yearly to help promoting ICTs which are COMNET, SIFTECH, SICOM, TECHMEDIA and CONNEXION annual shows.

In addition, in the first quarter of the year 2000 several actions (seminars, workshops, conferences and shows) took place with the aim to raise people awareness on the use of ICTs.

Their targets are all the categories of the population such as pupils, students, professionals, and decision makers. The target sectors are as varied as the population is: universities, administrations, healthcare, culture, business, etc.

The promotion actions that just took place the first quarter of the year 2000 are the following:

1. The Arab Conference on the use of Computer Science for Tele-Education (see specific entry in the database) which dealt with the modernisation and the exchange of remote teaching techniques.

2. Computing and Internet workshops (see specific entry in the database), a scientific event dedicated to the use of computer and Internet by pupils.

3. Algeria Expo, the First Internet virtual show (see specific entry in the database), an inventory Web site about the Algerian companies and the economic operators from all sectors.

4. Professional Audio-visual Show (see specific entry in the database), an event combining video and computer broadcasting, intended for technicians and other specialists concerned by the audio-visual sector.

5. Seminar on the "Contribution of New information and Communication technologies" (see specific entry in the database), a meeting dedicated to ICTs and their issues in the daily life.