Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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Egypt welcomes world’s
ICT regulators and industry
heavyweights for top technology policy conference
Growth of ICT markets and services strongly linked to
best-practice ICT policy frameworks
Sharm el-Sheikh, 12 May, 2016
– Top international policy makers from the world’s information and communication
technology (ICT) regulatory authorities and leading technology companies are
meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this
week to discuss the enormous opportunities ICTs offer for accelerating global
socio-economic development.
The largest annual gathering
of ICT policy specialists from the public and private sectors, ITU’s
Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR)
is the world’s pre-eminent
global
ICT regulatory event,
attracting experts from all corners of the world.
With an emphasis on peer-to-peer debate, knowledge exchange and best practice,
the event has quickly grown into the must-attend annual fixture on the calendar
of the world’s ICT regulators, Chief Regulatory Officers of technology
companies, government policy analysts and other key ICT stakeholders.
Egypt’s National
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is partnering with ITU to host
this year’s symposium, which is officially chaired by H. E.
Yasser ElKady, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology
and Chairman of NTRA Board of Directors. The event runs from 12-14 May at Sharm
el-Sheikh’s Maritim Jolie Ville International Congress Centre, with a special
pre-event day on 11 May
focusing on digital financial inclusion,
sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The overall theme for 2016 is:
Be Empowered, Be Included! Building Blocks for Smart Societies in a
Connected World.
With more than
500 delegates
from around the world expected to take part, the packed
3-day programme
includes compelling discussions and debates around:
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Artificial intelligence, smart sensors & smart networks
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The regulatory road towards the ‘Internet of Things’ and M2M
communications
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New digital platforms – empowering or enslaving?
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Privacy, trust and cybersecurity
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Strategies to encourage digital entrepreneurship
The essential voice of industry is brought in through the
Global Regulators-Industry Dialogue
(GRID) component of the event, which gives both government and private sector
participants the chance to debate pressing challenges, such as how to ensure
infrastructure roll-out meets demand for fixed and mobile broadband services.
This morning’s opening ceremony welcomed a number of distinguished guests
including Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General; GSR Chairman Minister Yasser
ElKady; Mustafa Abdul El-Wahed, Acting Executive President, NTRA; and Brahima
Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), which
organizes the symposium every year.
Addressing delegates at the
ceremony, ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao noted that GSR-16 is the first major
regulatory event to be held since the global community agreed the 17 UN
Sustainable Development Goals in New York last September. “ICTs are the
foundation upon which economic and social development can grow,” said Mr Zhao.
“ICTs have incredible potential to improve development outcomes in both the
developing and the developed world. All three pillars of sustainable development
– economic development, social inclusion and environmental protection – need
ICTs as key catalysts, and ICTs will be absolutely crucial for achieving the
SDGs.”
Minister
ElKady emphasized his country’s long-standing commitment to ICTs as a
driver of
development. “In Egypt we recognize the power of ICTs in achieving economic and
social sustainable development, in transforming our citizen’s lives for good and
in creating more connected global societies by expanding access to knowledge,
financial services and healthcare, creating new business opportunities, and
providing more consumer choice through new policies and regulations.” Minister
ElKady further stressed the importance of international collaboration within the
ICT community to reach this ambitious goal and benefit the global societies.
In his opening address, Mustafa Abdul El-Wahed reinforced this message, telling
assembled delegates that ICT services are an increasingly vital part of Egypt’s
economy. "Due to the deep impact ICT has over the national economy and social
life, the importance and indispensability of the telecommunications sector in
Egypt has grown vividly. This is especially true during the past two decades,
where one can see how telecommunications services have been contributing
substantially to value added services, employment, and diversification of the
Egyptian economy, not to mention the vibrant potential of the ICT sector and its
role in providing enabling conditions that reinforce the development of social
life."
Earlier today, Mr Zhao and Minister ElKady signed an important new project
agreement on Smart Water Management. The pilot project will use ICTs to replace
conventional irrigation systems by developing a model to help optimize the
management of local
groundwater and expand agricultural land. Project experts will also provide
guidance to policy makers regarding the management of water resources in
south-west Egypt.
The symposium’s
opening Leadership Debate,
‘Beyond
2020: Challenges, opportunities, scenarios’
featured top-name speakers including Minister ElKady; Kathleen Riviere-Smith,
CEO of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority of the Bahamas;
Ibrahim Sarhan, Chairman and Managing Director of e-finance, Egypt; Lin Mombo,
Chairman of the GSR-15 symposium; Tamer Abdel Aziz Shehata Gadalla, CEO, Telecom
Egypt; and Kalpak Gude, VP, Legal & Regulatory, OneWeb. The debate was moderated
by BDT Director Brahima Sanou.
“The world is changing.
Everything is inter-related,”
said Mr Sanou.
“Now more
than ever,
we all need to come together for an inclusive dialogue across all sectors and
develop innovative solutions to leverage
new opportunities.
We need
to
define the framework for collaborative policy and regulation to benefit from the
opportunities
the digital
economy can bring to all
people around the world.
And ensuring digital
financial inclusion is of the highest importance in today’s digital world.”
The GSR-16
Pre-event Programme
on 11 May featured a
Global Dialogue on Digital Financial Inclusion
organized by ITU in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the Government of Egypt and other
partners. The event centred
on driving a political dialogue between telecoms and financial services
regulators from around the world on digital financial services (DFS) for
financial inclusion.
Complementing
technical discussions around the regulatory programme within the
ITU Focus Group on Digital Financial Services,
regulators from around the world shared their global experiences to identify a
regulatory checklist based on international best practice. Attendees debated key
findings on some of the most important issues faced by policy makers and
regulators in accelerating the spread of mobile financial services, while
ensuring that the market develops competitively rather than becoming beholden to
a very small number of dominant players.
The pre-event day on 11 May also saw a meeting
of private sector Chief Regulatory Officers from the ICT industry, designed to
facilitate discussion and information sharing among telecommunication service
and technology companies, and frame debate during the symposium.
ITU also hosted a
special meeting of Regulatory Associations, where delegates
had the opportunity to discuss, share information network with regulatory
colleagues from different national agencies to promote closer, more effective
cooperation between Regulatory Associations around the world.
GSR-16 continues until Saturday 14 May, culminating in a series of regulatory
Best Practice Guidelines.
Outputs from the meeting will also be incorporated into ITU’s annual regulatory
report,
Trends in Telecommunication Reform.
Consult the
full programme of GSR-16 sessions.
Read the
GSR-16 Discussion Paper series.
Check the
biographies of GSR-16 speakers.
Background information,
including speeches of the high-level participants and key global statistics on
broadband, are available on the
GSR-16 Newsroom
Download
GSR-16 photos
Watch
GSR-16 video interviews
Follow the event on Twitter at: #GSR16
For more information, visit the
GSR-16 home page or contact:
AT ITU:
Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Monica Albertini
Communication Officer, BDT
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At NTRA:
Samar Sobeih
Deputy Manager, ITU Affairs
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