The MCIT in 2011

The year witnessed four CIT ministers with their various accomplishments

No one could imagine that within one year four ministers would take on the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) which witnessed its establishment in 1999 and is now considered one of the most important ministries in Egypt. The start was with Dr. Tarek Kamel, former Minister of CIT, followed by Dr. Magued Othman, also former Minister, then the Minister that was nominated but never sworn in, namely Dr. Hazem Abdel Azeem, and finally the current Minister Dr. Mohamed Salem who also continued in the Ganzoury cabinet as Minister of CIT.

Although a lot was achieved in this year that witnessed unnoticed activities in the first few days of January, the slowness curve started to rise and grow and the process of attracting investments became very scarce in this sector. After growth rates reaching and surpassing 13% we find that it reaches about 7% by the end of 2011 at the best estimate. In the coming few lines of this article we try to survey and evaluate the accomplishments of each minister individually in terms of days spent in office except for the few hours that Dr. Hazem Abdel Azeem spent in the ministry and eventually was not chosen by the SCAF because of his partnership in one of the IT companies that has business dealings with the “Zionist enemy”.

Surveying and evaluating each minister’s achievements is no easy task. In order to stay completely unbiased we started by monitoring the accomplishments of each minister through the official Ministry of CIT website www.mcit.gov.eg. No matter if we agree or disagree on any minister, his deeds and accomplishments will speak for themselves. The start of 2011 witnessed unprecedented and noticeable activities for former minister Dr, Tarek Kamel until he left office in February of the same year. Probably the most noteworthy event that took place within this period and was the talk of the town then was severing all communication means and cutting the Internet on the Friday January 28^th, dubbed the “Friday of Wrath”. Many reiterated that the decision made was bigger than the ability of Dr. Tarek Kamel to stand up to and prevent its execution as he knew the consequences of taking such a step, nevertheless what was done was done and there was no way of reversing it. Now history will state that during his office all communications and Internet were cut in an unprecedented event in the history of developing countries.

Since Dr. Tarek Kamel adamantly refuses to discuss or make any comment about this matter, as well as refusing to put the blame on anyone else, he will remain the innocent accused in the eyes of many although the excuse remains that the decision was made through higher forces and no one could object or stand up to it.

It seems that relative calm was dominant over all events so nothing worth mentioning happened, probably as the MCIT was intending to apply its plan in making the year and following ones for creativity and innovation but soon there was a change in the course of events which led to change in priorities.

On February 23^rd, Dr. Magued Othman, former Minister of CIT, was assigned the duties of Minister of CIT succeeding Dr. Tarek Kamel. Dr. Othman also comes from the IDSC and once he was in office, he started redrawing the priorities of the MCIT and the ICT sector in general. He put the first priority in extending assistance to SMEs and started forming a work group to handle crises and to help companies in need of help. On March 7^th, he was reinstated as Minister of CIT in form PM Dr. Essam Sharaf’s Cabinet. He gave ITIDA the task of opening discussion on the possibility of applying e-voting techniques to enable Egyptians abroad and locally to participate in the voting process for the presidential elections. Thinking began in amending the Telecommunications Law No. 10 of 2003, which granted broad powers to cut the Telecom and Internet services. The Ministry soon thought of emerging from the crisis by participating in Gitex Riyadh 2011 with 45 companies in the Egyptian pavilion.

In April 2011, Egypt post signed a memorandum of understanding (MOI) with its French counterpart, Planet Finance Organization and Caisse des Depots of France. This MOI is for the preparation of a feasibility study for micro financing projects and individuals as to what conforms with the activities, strategies for developing its financial services and the of Egypt Post as a non-lending entity. Cairo also hosted for the first time the finals of the Imagine Cup. In May, a study on restructuring wages was revealed at the MCIT for all its employees. This month also witnessed a daily attendance by Dr. Othman of Cairo ICT 2011 Forum and Exhibition in its fifteenth round, which witnesses a number of agreements whether governmental or between companies of the private sector. Before that the minister also participated in the ICT reviving conference organized by Tradefairs the organizers of Cairo ICT. During the expo the ITDC and Nokia announced a new agreement that includes two initiatives to be activated in Egypt. Two more agreementswere signed between the NTI and Huawei to train a number of engineers and establish labs for the 4^th generation services in the institute. In June 2011 and for the very first time Egypt is included in the OECD report and through this Egypt can showcase in cooperation with many countries a number of indicators of the wide use of ICT in Egypt.

Before July 20^th, Dr. Hazem Abdel Azeem was nominated as a Minister of CIT but before being sworn in he appeared on many TV satellite channels to reiterate his agenda to be implemented once he becomes minister. Abdel Azem ws then attacked and his involvement with Israel was proven so he was excluded from the cabinet seat.

On July 21^st, PM Dr. Sharaf decided to appoint Dr, Mohamed Salem as Minister of CIT to succeed Dr. Magued Othman. On July 25^th, Egypt and Germany signed a cooperation protocol in heritage registration in the Smart Village in the framework of boosting international cooperation and benefiting from the expertise of developed countries in this field. This protocol is concerned with multimedia and its importance in preserving and registering heritage.

In August Dr. Salem announced the ministry’s strategy for the coming 6 months ending in January 2012. This strategy is based on several axes:

Parliamentary and presidential elections, Laws and legislations, Technology corridor for Egyptian youth, the support of the revolution’s injured and with special needs, developing SMEs working in ICT, developing underdeveloped areas, activating the broadband strategy, increasing productivity and efficiency in governmental institutions, developing community services from Egypt Post, cooperating with Nile basin countries, and Egypt’s foreign policy in the ICT field.

In September Dr. Salem signed a memorandum of understanding (MOI) with the government of Turkey for cooperation in the fields of ICT and post. On October 6^th the NTRA announced the increase in the mobile numbers to become 11 digits. Also in October the Smart Village hosted the Arab Net conference which took place in Egypt for the first time and witnessed major attendance during its 2-day round.

In the beginning of November 2011 former PM Dr. Sharaf along with Dr. Ahmed Zoeil inaugurated the Zoeil City for Sciences and Technology with the attendance of Dr. Ahmed Salem. This Project was submitted by Dr. Zoeil who was awarded the Nobel Prize in science in 1999.