ESIS Extension / Egypt / IS Promotional Activities / Master Report

The government has shown its decision to support and promote the information technology field and consequently, boost the information society by establishing the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) which currently reports to the Cabinet of Ministers.

IDSC along with a number of governmental, private and regional organisations such as RITSEC and the Internet Society of Egypt (ISE) are involved in the promotion of Information society issues.

The IDSC is a state-owned body that's mainly concerned with the promotion and development of information technology issues, such as the promotion and the formulation of plans and strategies, and the initiatives of information society.

The Internet Society of Egypt was Founded in October 1996. It is a non-profit organisation of professional individuals and institutions dedicated to promoting, managing, and facilitating the use of Internet in Egypt.

The Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre hosts a number of major promotional activities concerning the information society such as CAINET '99, EuroMed '99, etc.

Finally, the local press is only superficially and circumstantially involved with IS matters : other than AL Ahram (a leading daily newspaper) which devotes 2 pages per week for IT matters, no other medium is systematically publishing relevant articles.

A committee is currently being set up (the "Technology Development Committee) aimed at providing IT solutions to the public sector. This committee (which would be formed within 1999) would report directly to the president of the country, and would be composed of members of IDSC and of various ministries.

At a ministerial level, the IS activity is not considerable, and is limited only in the case of the ministry of Electricity. The said ministry has achieved a high degree of computerisation, with all the country’s power stations currently being inter-linked.

At a local Authority level, four projects have been developed within the framework of the Information Highway Project : GovernoratesNET allows each governorate in Egypt to have its own web site so that the public has access to non-classified information ; HealthNET which comprises a web site which provides information about doctors and medical specialities in Egypt ; TourNET which provides information for tourists ; and Government-on-line which is the presidential web site containig information about the names and contact details of the ministers and other government officials.

Telecom Egypt, the national telecommunications provider in Egypt has established its own Internet Service Provider which facilitates access to the Internet to ministries and government departments. In addition, the said provider sub-contracts 52 private Internet Service Providers which supply the private sector and the individual households for a wider Internet coverage.

In the educational sector, the trend is to introduce the class of computer usage, but the process so far proves to be rather slow : the said class is taught only in selected secondary schools, their selection being based on several criteria such as the geographical location (Cairo), and the specialisation of the school (schools which specialise in commercial, industrial and agricultural matters do not qualify, whereas general secondary schools do).

The following document details the promotional activities identified so far with a small description on each activity. All available details are summarised in a tabular format.

CAINET (Cairo Internet) conference is a remarkable event for promoting Internet-related applications to the Egyptian market. It has been held in Cairo since 1996 and attended annually by 800-1200 participants, 15% of whom are foreigners. It focuses on Internet applications in the following fields: Health, technology, E-Commerce, and education. In 1996, the theme of the conference was the privatisation of Internet service providers (ISPs). In 1997 the theme was the launch of the presidential web site. In 1998 the Internet Society of Egypt became a chapter of ISOC (Internet Society Organisation) and in 1999 the theme was "Internet for all". The First Lady of Egypt attended the last conference. During the conference a number of seminars and workshops are held to discuss the key issues.

The workshop was held during the period between 27-29 April 1998 at the Cairo Marriot Hotel. It was organised by the Ministry of culture, the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre (RITSEC), the Regional IT Institute (RITI) and the Regional Arab Information Technology Network (RAITNET). The workshop dealt mainly with the topic of "Using Information Technology to Preserve Cultural Heritage." The seminar was held over a three-day period and attracted some 50 participants from abroad (it was attended by 300 participants, 250 of whom were Egyptians).

The electronic commerce seminar was held on May 16^th 1999 at RITI premises in Cairo. It was organised by the Regional IT Institute and the Internet Society of Egypt and it was sponsored by RITI. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Detmar Straub, the director of the doctoral programs at Georgia State University and associate professor of Information Systems. The Seminar introduced the participants to the basic concepts of electronic commerce with an emphasis on applications to business. The Seminar was attended by 43 participants mainly from the Internet Society of Egypt, The American Chamber of Commerce as well as a number of interested individuals.

The aim of the seminar was to facilitate the timely and coherent development of the Arabic Web presence, by identifying and promoting the resolution of outstanding standardisation issues. The theme of the workshop was "towards building an Egyptian Information Society". It was held on November 20^th 1997, at the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) under the auspices of the Internet of Egypt (ISE).

4.5 Information Technology Development during the reign of President Mubarak

The conference was hosted by the Information and Decision Support Centre and aimed at revising the developments in information technology achieved during the reign of President Mubarak. The second objective of the conference was to set plans for the forthcoming years with regards to major information technology projects. The conference was held between September 13 and 15. An information technology fair was held during the conference in which all the ministries, governorates, organisations, authorities and companies working in the field participated.

Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commision, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.