ESIS Extension / Syria / IS Promotional Activities / Update Memo 5

The Syrian Computer Society (SCS) <www.scs-syria.com> is still the main organiser of awareness actions leading to the promotion of Information Society. Being an association of IT professionals recognised by the government, SCS collaborates with concerned ministries in various activities it organises. The major awareness programmes, which are implemented on a continuous basis, involve four ministries:

The main IS promotion event during the second quarter of this year has been the First Syrian-Lebanese Symposium on Information and Communication Technology Development on 25-29 April 2000. The theme of the symposium is "Assessment and Perspectives for Co-operation". It has been the first joint promotion action in IT between the two neighbouring countries. SCS has been the co-ordinator and main sponsor for Syria, while the Professional Computer Association together with major Lebanese universities and key ministries have been the promoters in Lebanon. The four main themes were: Leading Information and Communication Technology, ICT and Society, Software Industry, Education and Retraining.

The symposium included invited lectures, case studies and surveys of advanced experiences from other countries. Over 46 presentations were given as well as 4 panel discussions each on one of the four main themes. As a result of these presentations and discussions, recommendations were drafted in order to promote and develop the use of ICT for the benefit of society in both countries. Complementarity of Syrian and Lebanese capabilities were stressed showing the need for increased co-operation. The symposium was held for 2 days in Damascus and two days in Beirut and was attended by a total of nearly 700 participants. More information can be found on the SCS web site <http://www.scs-syria.com/news.html>.

In conjunction with the symposium, SCS has also organised the annual Sixth Al-Shaam Exhibition of Information and Communications Technologies (Shaam 2000) in Damascus on 25-30 April 2000. Over the years, this promotion activity has grown to become one of the more important regional events in ICT. The event exhibited the latest IT solutions, computing systems, software applications, networking and Internet products as well as books with focused presentations on selected product related themes. The exhibition covered about 36,000 square meters with 312 exhibitors from the private and public sectors and was attended by nearly 70,000 people.

SCS has a professional training programme that is open to the public-at-large and is carried out at its headquarter in Damascus. The aim of this programme is to promote the use of IT in all facets of life and in particular by professionals (e.g., medical doctors, lawyers, and engineers). The training courses that were given during the second quarter of this year are as follows:

SCS organised public lectures in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture at the National Library in Damascus, usually every fortnight. These lectures concerned new information technologies and their (potential) use in Syria. The latest of these lectures included:

The Second SIMA Economic Conference was held on the theme "The New Economy on the Threshold of the 21st Century in Syria" on 27-29/5/2000. The main topics of the conference were: Modernising Laws and Decrees in Light of the Networked Economy, Role of ICT in the New Economy, Modernising Management, and Upgrading Human Resources. Nearly 120 decision-makers, professors, researchers, economists and company managers attended the conference. The conference was organised by the REDA Computer Centre.

The University IT Dissemination Programme continues in all four state-owned universities, whereby courses on the use of computers and their basic applications are being conducted for the benefit of university staff who register for token fees. These courses aim to promote the use of computers among university population by making use of the university computer laboratories. After three years, the National Programme for IT Dissemination is still going strong and expanding in the country, aiming at the eradication of computer illiteracy among ordinary citizens. Any person, young or old, can follow basic training on the use of PC's for two weeks in secondary schools for token fees.

The SHERN (Syrian Higher Education and Research Network) project for building an academic network in Syria is progressing. Local training on networking principles, TCP/IP, routing, Unix and Windows NT were completed at the four Syrian universities (University of Damascus, University of Aleppo, Tishreen University and Al-Baath University). Equipment and materials needed for building the LAN's have been shipped by SALEC, a Saudi telecommunications company that signed a contract to supply and install the necessary infrastructure as well as to train local staff on installation, configuration and operation. By the end of the year, the project should be completed, leading to the development of intranet-based academic applications such as tele-teaching, course content sharing and development, and tele-working and research.

Radio and television interviews were carried out to promote ESIS. The second Press Release has been translated into Arabic and was distributed to national newspapers as well as the EU delegation MEDA Team and the Syrian European Business Centre for inclusion in their newsletters.

for contacts details and links

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 Commission, 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.