Etisalat CEO honoured at 7th Arab Telecom and Internet Forum

Etisalat's CEO, Mohamad Hassan Omran, attended the forum, and was felicitated as one of the key contributors to IT and technology in the Arab region. The only other person felicitated was the Saudi Minister for Telecommunications, Mohammed Jamil Mulla.

This event was held under the patronage of HM Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco, and organized by Iktissad Wa Amal Group, International Telecom Union (ITU), and ArabSat. The forum was inaugurated by Minister of Economy and Public Affairs of Morocco, Rashid Al Alami, and attended by Ministers of Telecommunications, Undersecretaries of Telecom, Media and IT, Senior Executives from telecom operators, and other prominent players in the IT and telecom sector across the Arab world. UAE Minister of Transportation, HE Sultan Al Mansouri, also attended. There was also a trade exhibition on the sidelines, which was an opportunity for telecom corporations and related companies to showcase their latest and best services and products.

Mohamad Omran thanked the organizers for the honour of being selected as one of the prominent Arabs in the telecom and IT industry. "This award is dedicated to the team effort within Etisalat. I would like to extend my gratitude to the organizers for inviting us, and for organizing such a beneficial forum."

Ebtikar Card Systems, an Etisalat business division, participated in the trade exhibition, and representatives from Etisalat accompanied him to the Forum. After having produced more than 200 million smart cards in 2004, Ebtikar participated by displaying some of the latest products for mobile phones. A new SIM card for 3G subscribers, one of Ebtikar's innovations, has 64kb EPROM, and works on all GSM networks. This feature makes the card ideal for modern mobile phones, allowing customers to upgrade from 2G to 3G without having to replace the SIM card.

Raouf Abuzakki, General Manager of the Iktissad Wa Amal Group was pleased with the success of the 7th consecutive annual event. "As this forum is related to a major economic sector- telecommunications and IT- it is great that we had so many participants and attendees. This sector leads development in most other sectors, and should play a key role in building an information society. The cooperation of the three organizations coming together every year to present this has been wonderful, and we also invite others to join hands with us in presenting such a key industry event. An event of this nature shows the importance of cooperation between public and private sectors."

The other key attendees were the Ministers of Telecommunications from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Sudan, Ministers of State of Tunisia and Switzerland, Undersecretaries of State for Telecommunications of Oman and Bahrain, Chairpersons of ArabSat and Qatar Telecom, and CEOs of Oman Mobile and Qatar Telecom.