Aramco IT VP meets with Bill Gates in Microsoft Executive Summit 2002

In the summit, the Saudi delegation shared their experiences with other leading companies from GCC, North Africa and Europe, set and discussed their IT vision and ambitious plans with Bill Gates Microsoft Chairman and Software Architect officer.

The two-day also featured external speakers to the convention, which was attended by top executives from European, Middle Eastern, and North African Companies. Dr. Ibrahim S. Mishari, Vice President, Information Technology at Saudi Aramco spoke about "How IT Adds Business Value within an Organization."

In his presentation, Dr. Mishari explained: "The true value of IT is its use in relation to the enterprise as a whole. Many creative business initiatives could not happen if the underlying business processes did not have IT infrastructure. Smart investment equal competitive advantages."

Dr. Mishari also met with Bill Gates, Chairman and founder of the Microsoft Corp and chief software architect. In the one-on-one meeting, Gates and Mishari discussed various areas of cooperation between both companies and Dr. Mishari extended an invitation for Gates to visit Saudi Aramco to see the IT infrastructure there.

According to Eng. Bilal Sanunu, General Manager of Microsoft Arabia, "With no doubt Saudi Arabia's private and public sectors fully realize the importance of information technology and the role it plays in building a strong operation, and a successful and profitable business. With that in mind, and with the huge investments in this field, companies and organizations are well positioned for the challenges ahead."

Other presentations in the two-day summit included H.E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Egypt who presented "Accelerating Change: The Egyptian Experience" and Wilfried Grommen, GM .NET Microsoft EMEA presented "Driving Innovation and Business Value with .NET"