SAMENA Council, earlier this week, participated in the high-level panel at the ITU Regional Development Forum for Arab States (RDF-ARB). RDF-ARB was organized by the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) and hosted in Manama by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Represented by CEO, Bocar BA, SAMENA Council described the state of digital transformation in the Arab countries. “Digital transformation in the region is at a stage where sustainable investments, innovation, and greater collaborations will play a critical role in advancing digital transformation, followed by continuous digital reformation”, stated BA during his intervention in the high-level panel, moderated by BDT Director, Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava.
SAMENA Council is of the opinion that the current pace of 5G deployments and how 5G is being embedded as a part of a national digital systems processes, show that digital transformation is an evolving reality and the Arab region is committed to it. Moreover, from what SAMENA Council has witnessed and advocated throughout October to date this year, digital transformation in the region is in fast gear. This view is in alignment with the Council’s recent advocacy efforts with respect to 5G advancements and their role in meeting global connectivity needs, shift to 5G Advanced to unearth new digital possibilities, the need to make regional IPv6 transition balanced, implementing the 10Giga society concept, and just last week, protecting the cyberspace through new priorities. Digital transformation, however, now necessitates ITU’s much closer engagement in the region, especially on the innovation and entrepreneurship fronts.
Bocar BA also stated: “The opportunities and the challenges we have discussed today [in RDF-ARB] can be seen through the lens of the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development, [launched recently by the BDT], and I believe we can really accelerate digital transformation through ITU’s continued engagement in the region.”
One of the aims of the November 2023 RDF-ARB was to report on the progress that was made towards the implementation of the outcomes of the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022 (WTDC-22) held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2022. Emphasis was given to the five Regional Initiatives for Arab Region, which include: Regional Initiative 1: Sustainable digital economy through digital transformation. Regional Initiative 2: Enhancing confidence, security and privacy in the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies in the era of new and emerging digital technologies. Regional Initiative 3: Developing digital infrastructure for smart sustainable cities and communities. Regional Initiative 4: Building capacities and encouraging digital innovation, entrepreneurship and future foresight. And Regional Initiative 5: Developing means of digital regulation.
Source: SAMENA Council Press release