Page 6 - SAMENA Trends - December 2023

SAMENA COUNCIL ADVOCACY SAMENA TRENDS

COP28 UAE

On COP28 Day 9, SAMENA Council Led Discussion to Advocate Access
to Low-cost Energy for Achieving ICT and Mobility Sector Integration &
Climate Sustainability Imperatives

SAMENA Telecommunications Council, SAMENA Council curated the experts panel to
in strategic collaboration with The Future
Mobility Hub, and in pursuit of innovative bring forth cross-industry exchange of ideas that
cross-sector partnerships, driven by digi- can drive innovation among Technology Providers,
talization and environmental sustainability
imperatives, led a panel discussion, titled Telecom Operators, Satellite Operators, and Mobility
"Connectivity, Sustainability, and Mobility: sector players working together on both business
Creating New Synergies between the ICT opportunities as well as on fulfilling the Sustainable
and Mobility Sector Players".
Development Agenda, particularly SDG 13. (“urgent
Focused on fostering and enabling action to combat climate change and its impact”).
collaboration between the Mobility/
Transport and the ICT/Telecom sectors, leaders, and how major ICT/Connectivity Service Providers and SES’s Imran Malik
SAMENA Council curated the experts panel players see the sustainability imperative. Khan, SVP - Enterprise & Cloud EMEA &
to bring forth cross-industry exchange of There is much to collaborate on between APAC, among other speakers, the SAMENA
ideas that can drive innovation among the Connectivity players and the Mobility/ Council-led panel delved into responsi-
Technology Providers, Telecom Operators, Transport sector players. In the age of bilities of ICT and non-ICT players with
Satellite Operators, and Mobility sector 5G/5G-Advanced, when cross-industry respect to taking corrective action on the
players working together on both business partnerships have emerged as crucial climate crisis; embedding digital trans-
opportunities as well as on fulfilling areas in socio-economic and innovative formation, innovations in connectivity,
the Sustainable Development Agenda, business-case development, and as time smart mobility applications and services,
particularly SDG 13 (“urgent action to speeds up toward 2030, collaboration smart and cost-effective energy solutions
combat climate change and its impact”). between the Mobility and the ICT sectors to catalyze an altogether a new ecosys-
can make a significant difference in our tem; sustainability initiatives currently in
Bocar BA, CEO and Board Member of efforts to achieve major SDGs while place, and innovative strategies leverag-
SAMENA Council, who moderated the creating impactful business use-cases.” ing telecommunications to drive sustain-
discussion, stated: “Visionary perspectives able trends, transforming the landscape
shared by Cisco and SES reflect on the With highly valuable insights provided by of transportation and smart mobility in the
Council’s community of digital ecosystem Cisco’s Mohamed Tantawi, MD - Telcos & SA-ME-NA region. Policy, regulatory, and
overall enablement requirements were also
discussed. The panel agreed on the need
for climate action, and how critical it is for
the business and the environment to have
access to low-cost and clean energy.

The United Nations Climate Change Con-
ference (“UNFCCC COP 28”) has convened
from November 30 to December 12, 2023,
in Dubai, UAE. COP28 aimed to fast-track
the move to clean energy sources and to
dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emis-
sions before 2030; financing climate action
for developing/LDC nations; focusing on
nature and people; and fostering inclusion
of multiple sectors – an objective with
which SAMENA Council aligned itself by
curating the “Connectivity, Sustainability,
and Mobility” panel.
6 DECEMBER 2023