The G20 Digital Economy Ministers Meeting of July 2020; Global Connect 2030 Agenda; several ITU and UN Broadband Commission initiatives and calls for collaboration to help close the digital divide; SAMENA Council’s own “SAMENA Industry Development Goals”, and an industry-wide realization to work collaboratively to achieve “Meaningful Connectivity” and “Global Digital Connectivity” as soon as possible, all corroborate the urgent need for implementing ICT policies that accelerate ICT Infrastructure development and foster digital inclusion, which may help realize the unprecedented potential of the Digital Economy in improving the socio-economics of the region, sustainably.

Multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts are required to help align needs and ways forward on the complex aspirations and challenges associated with the Digital Economy, and to position regulatory and policy mindsets in incentivizing Connectivity, overcoming Digital Gaps, and fostering Meaningful Innovation. There is already policy-level consensus within the region that the Digital Economy needs to be set on an accelerated path; it should be made sustainable; and it should be measureable. However, there is need to identify and act up certain initiatives to help accelerate the SA-ME-NA region’s digital economy in a sustainable way, with specialized focus on:

• Building the necessary ICT infrastructure, which requires updating existing legal, technical systems, and making policies, such as “Cloud First”, to suit the digital space
• Incentivizing collaboration and investment and fostering innovative ecosystem growth, including for digital content, IoT, etc.
• Aligning national ICT visions with the national economic visions as much as possible
• Defining steps to achieve strategic coordination of multiple stakeholders: Governments, Private Sector/Operators, Funding/Financing Entities, and Citizens (ICT talent)
• Making digital economy measureable (inspiration can be taken from G20 common framework)
• Integrating the region – countries should lower digital barriers/encourage cross-border data flows/address 5G spectrum interference, etc.
• Create economies of scale for infrastructure investments, such as cross-border connectivity through terrestrial fiber cables

Moderator

Dr. Karim Taga

Managing Partner, Global Practice Leader TIME
Arthur D. Little, Austria

Speakers

Mr. Joseph Bradley

President - Tech & Digital Sector
NEOM, Saudi Arabia

Mr. Safder Nazir

Regional Vice President Digital Industries Strategy
Huawei, UAE

Ms. Maha Alnuhait

GM of Sustainability Program
stc, Saudi Arabia

Mr. Hatem Bamatraf

CTO
Etisalat Group, UAE

Mr. Jawad Jalal Abbassi

Head of MENA
GSMA, UAE

Mr. Derek O’Halloran

Head of Economy and Social System Initiative
World Economic Forum, Switzerland