Egypt organizes the First Regional Symposium on Women and ICT

The Conference taking place 17-19 December 2003 is co-organized by the Ministry of CIT represented by the National Telecommunications Institute and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Due to its regional leadership role in empowering women especially in the field of ICT, Egypt was chosen from the ITU to host the event. Several international/national agencies including the ESCWA, UNIFEM, UNDP, the National Council for Women and the Organization for Arab Women are participating in the event.

In the presence of 15 Arab states, several topics will be addressed over the 3-day event such as the current status of ICT and gender in the Region; awareness building on gender considerations; policies and strategies to ensure access of women to ICT, creating opportunities and partnerships and finally the WSIS of Geneva and prospects for Tunis.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Minister Nazif asserted that there are three main issues need to be closely addressed up to Tunis 2005: the role of women in developing the information society; the role of ICTs in developing women; and the utilization of ICTs for development, emphasizing the education/learning and health sectors. Minister Nazif ended his talk urging participants to develop a working plan to be adopted on the national and regional levels.

Dr. Ahmed El Sherbini, Director of the National Telecom Institute and the head of the organizing committee affirmed that bringing together active partners in the field such as policy makers in the Arab world, international organizations, civil society agencies, public and private companies will allow the exchange of expertise and shed light on innovative means that support the development of women in ICT sector regionally.