Government of Egypt hosts Microsoft's Government Leadership Forum for the region

The Forum, currently being held over two days (January 24-25, 2004) focuses on modernizing governments, economic development, and education. It aims at sharing the various Arab regional experiences as a mean to enhance the capabilities, share best practices, and raise issues related to information and communication technology.

At the opening ceremony of the event, Minister Nazif wished for the event to foster further regional integration as well as further integration of the region within the global society for the benefit of the peoples of the region and for future generations.

At a later press conference, the Minister shared with media how teams from the Government of Egypt and Microsoft explored potential for cooperation in education and many other fields. The Minister added that the strong support from the Government sends a strong message namely; the head of state affirmed the importance for ICT as a tool development, that there is a clear vision to implement Egypt's Information Society Initiative and finally that the implementation of regional policies for development to work together to become power in the ICT.

GLF Arabia will bring together leaders from twenty-two Arab countries to exchange ideas and learn how countries are streamlining service delivery and empowering their citizens using information technology. 120 delegates from the region will come together to participate in roundtable discussions that are designed to help facilitate the building of constructive solutions to the new challenges facing the region.

The Government Leaders Forum provides the platform for these parties to come together and explore the kinds of partnerships necessary for success in achieving government's policy goals and boosting national productivity.

On behalf of President Mubarak, Dr. Ahmed Nazif made the opening keynote speech; and Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman, and Chief Software Architect will address the closing remarks. Gates will be participating in the panel discussions in GLF Arabia and meeting with the top Arab Leaders during the Forum.

The Forum is putting more emphasis on the role of ICT in developing and building an Arab information society, in order to improve the economies and lives of its citizens, as stated in the Cairo Declaration of June 2003 on the WSIS and the 2003 Arab Human Development Report on building a knowledge society.

Amongst the major topics to be discussed at the Forum are the regional challenges that lie ahead; good governance as an enabler for the Arab information society in 2010, Microsoft's commitment to the Arab region and how ICT's can help achieve the regional development goals.