Gates makes first visit to the Middle East

Gates arrived as an official guest of the Government of Egypt and is to meet with the region's top government officials and Egyptian businessmen. Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Communications and Information Technology met Mr. Gates in 2002 and invited him to visit Egypt. The Government of Egypt and Microsoft have a long-term relationship especially in citizen oriented projects; during President Mubarak's last visit to the US, Egypt signed with Microsoft an E-government agreement, an output of this agreement - government gateway - is due to be launched during Mr. Gates' visit.

Under the auspices of President Mubarak, Egypt will host the Arab Government Leaders Forum (GLF Arabia). Prime Minister Dr. Atef Ebeid will inagurate the event and Mr. Gates will deliver the closing remarks for the event. The GLF Arabia gathers government leaders from 22 countries across the Middle East under the themes 'Modernizing Government', 'Economic Development' and 'Education'. The two-day forum provides a platform for these parties to come together and explore the kinds of partnerships essential to achieving government policy goals and boosting national productivity.

During his sojourn in Egypt, Gates will also deliver the opening keynote speech of the Microsoft Middle East Developers Conference (MDC), which is being held for the second time in Egypt- in 2003 Minister Nazif inaugurated the event- and is expected to draw over 3,000 developers from the Region. Microsoft developers from the US, Europe and the Middle East will make over 40 technical presentations during the three-day conference.