Update January 2000: Syria

1. Organisational Awareness Aspects of Information Society

The main branches of SCS have organized symposia for the promotion of ICT and applications in each of the major cities in Syria: Homs in October, Hama in November, Sweida and Aleppo in December. These symposia were attended by IT professionals, public administrators, professors, business people and industrialists. The attendance varied between 100 and 250 people. Each symposium had a theme of its own which is generally related to the state of ICT in Syria and means of promoting the IS. The subjects covered a wide spectrum such as:

• Use of LANs and WANs in improving performance of various institutions
• Case studies in ICT in Syria
• State-of-the-art in ICT
• E-Commerce and applications
• ICT and Education
• Internet and applications in Syria.

2. IS national/regional strategies and action plans

2.1 Training on High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) has been carried out on 25-29 September 1999 at HIAST by an Italian firm (CPR) within the framework of the IT Nodes initiative of the European Commission in the Mediterranean region. It consisted of an introductory presentation on HPCN, applications in this domain, and the study of TETRAMED programme with Greece. During the workshop the following subjects have been discussed:

• Technology transfer and monitoring technology demand and offer;
• Parallel architectures, high performance hardware systems;
• High performance computing environments and networking; and
• Technical visits to and discussions with potential companies (end-users);

The event was attended by nearly 40 professionals of IT in the areas of networking and the use of high performance computing in industry, as well as by interested industry representatives.

2.2 The Regional Seminar on Tele-Traffic Engineering for the Arab States was held in Damascus from 7 to 12 November 1999. ITU and ITC, which initiate the seminar, provide most of the funding for the lecturers. The event was co-sponsored by the Arab League and was hosted by the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE). It dealt mainly with the following issues:

• Development of TTE Handbook for developing countries
• Traffic characteristics and potential demand for new services such as Internet, mobile, telefax, data communications, and satellite systems, video conferencing
• Network planning and Network Management
• Integrated Rural Development (new cost-effective systems that provide means of offering a wide range of services to rural areas)
• Community Tele-Service Centres (experiences from all over the world, importance for Developing Countries, involvement of international organisations, etc.).

Lectures were given by 22 lecturers from Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and some Arab Countries. Attendees numbered about 150 and were mainly from various telecommunications operators in Arab Countries as well as from universities, industries and international organisations involved in telecom services and/or CTSC projects.

3. Information content stimulation:

The call for bids of the Syrian Higher Education and Research Network (SHERN) was launched in September. The evaluation of the bids has been completed in December. Contract is being drafted, and the implementation should start by March 2000.

4. IS promotional tools?

The ITN group (mainly Syrian Computer Society and Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce) has designed a brochure, introducing E-Commerce and explaining its importance for businesses in Syria. The Syrian European Business Centre covered the costs of printing 10,000 copies that are being distributed through various chambers of commerce and industry, business centers, SCS and some ministries to decision makers, business people, industry managers, universities, etc. The aim is to promote E-Commerce in Syria and initiate projects in that direction.