Update November 2000: Syria

1. Organisation Awareness Aspects of Information Society

The Syrian Computer Society remains the main player in the IS field in Syria, raising public awareness and promoting the dissemination of Information Technology. Thus, it pursues its awareness efforts in collaboration with four different ministries:

• Ministry of Education: National Programme for the dissemination of IT
• Ministry of Higher Education: Universities Programme for dissemination of IT
• Ministry of Information: Television Programme on Informatics and Society
• Ministry of Culture: Series of Lecture on IT and Applications

2. IS national/ regional strategies and action plans

A presidential decree (No 15 for the year 2000) stipulates the creation of four faculties for Computer Science and Engineering in the four Syrian State Universities. The capacity of each is about 150 students per year.

The SCS is nominated officially as focal point for the EUMEDIS programme. A meeting was organised at SCS headquarters in June 2000 with the participation of delegations from the Ministries of Economy, Tourism and Culture, Syrian Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Damascus University and the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST). Mr Andrea Ricci, administrator for EUMEDIS in the European Commission, was present at this meeting, explaining the purpose and the functionality of EUMEDIS programme.

The SCS Professional Training Programme has continued its activities and offered the following courses during the period July -September 2000:

• Intranet Networks
• Database Systems with Oracle
• Programming Languages: Visual C++ and Delphi
• Professional Software: AUTOCAD
• Advanced Level Courses in Informatics for the National Programme trainers.

Participants were mainly from the public sector: Ministries of Finance, Education, Information, Culture, Transport and Agriculture.

An e-commerce consultative committee has been formed by the Prime Minister that include in its membership: The Minister of Transport, the Deputy Minister of Economy & External Commerce, the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Deputy Minister of Justice, the director general of STE, and Dr. Maher Mujtahed (representative of SCS).

Two additional Consultative Committees are going to be established by the Council of Ministers in the field of IT: The GIS Committee, and the Management Information System (MIS) Committee

The State Ministry for Administrative Development organised, in co-operation with SCS, a three days seminar (13-15 August 2000) on the following theme: "Administrative development aiming at the elaboration of a national action plan for an advanced and rational administration of the public and private sector establishments."

E-commerce in Syria: Prospects and Opportunities, was the theme of a one day workshop (17 September 2000), organised by the Ministry of Economy and External Trade and The Syrian branch of he Arab School of Science and Technology. Discussed topics were:

• Effective e-commerce in the world
• Economical and cultural importance of e-commerce
• Legal, legislative and financial aspects of e-commerce in Syria
• Impact of e-commerce on the business world
• Case studies

A Summer School 2000, focusing on Digital Communication, Communication networks and Industrial Computer: Real-time, was held at HIAST/Damascus between19-27 August 2000, with the participation of:

• CNAM and IUT de Cachan (France)
• Jordan University of Science & Technology (Jordan)
• Institut des Sciences Appliquée et Economiques (Lebanon)
• BirZeit University and Abu Diss College for Sciences and Technology (Palestine)
• Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST)
• Syrian Universities
• Syrian Telecommunication Establishment.

The attendees of this summer school were concerned with the teaching profession in the technical faculties and in the technological university institutes. More than 80 professors, engineers and technicians have participated at this school form the different countries: France, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

3. Information Content Stimulation:

The Syrian President ratified, on 20 April 2000, the Framework Convention regarding the execution of the financial and technical co-operation under MEDA Programme and the other financing agreements of the European investment bank for the Mediterranean countries.

Syria signed the MEDA Framework Convention on 15 August 1998. Under MEDA, several programmes have been approved since 1996 in the areas of public administration (municipalities in 1996 and Ministry of Finance in 1997), infrastructure (telecommunications in 1996, electricity sector in 1998, and archaeological training programme in 1999), and private sector support (Business School in 1997, Syrian-European Business Centre in 1999).

These programmes are intended to support and encourage governmental reforms, creating the structures and the instruments necessary for the development of the Syrian economy and establishing favourable economic and institutional environment.

A Fast Track Support Facility (FTSF), support approved by the Ministry of Planning on August 3rd 2000 (130K Euros), aim at conducting activities, by international and national experts in the domain of telecommunication such as: Diagnostics, prognostics, policy advice and creation and diffusion of awareness. These activities will be performed during the next year as a preparation phase for the Telecommunication Sector Support Programme (TSSP) financed by the 4^th Protocol (4.5 M euro) and MEDA 1 resources (5.5 M euro)

The Ministry of education intends to have 2000 Internet access points in public schools around the country, once the national backbone for the Internet has been implemented (by the first quarter of 2001).