BEIRUT (PRESS RELEASE) - Over 40 information and communications technology (ICT) representatives from across the Arab world concluded their U.S. visit on Saturday, January 21st, following two days of intensive meetings and discussions in Washington, DC, the last stop on an “ICT Road Show” that began in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), and included a three-day visit with prominent technology companies and executives in Silicon Valley.
The delegation’s trip to the U.S. came as Tunisians and Egyptians mark the first anniversary of the protests that toppled the long-standing regimes of Ben Ali and Mubarak, during which technology played a prominent role in facilitating the organizational efforts of the citizen-led protest movements.
Now as the region evaluates the potential for longer-term democracy, and the prospects for global investment, many leading figures in the Arab ICT sector are reaching out to the U.S. in search of partnerships and trade opportunities that had often been difficult to access under the former regimes.
In Washington, DC, delegates, which included Ministers of Telecommunications, chairmen from Telecommunications Regulatory Authorities, Arab ICT sector associations, and private sector executives attended a number of high-level events with key U.S. State Department officials and trade representatives to discuss policies and strategies that will increase investment opportunities between the U.S. and the Middle East, as well as promote a regulatory environment that is conducive to the growth of the Arab ICT industry overall.
The Washington, DC portion of the visit began on Thursday with a roundtable discussion on mechanisms for strengthening economic and social growth in the Arab region through ICT. Chaired by IJMA3-USA, the roundtable drew the participation of several key Arab and U.S. ICT authorities, including Mohammad Allawi, the Iraqi Minister for Telecom, and Ambassador Michael Gardner, the Chairman of the US Telecommunications Training Institute.
Also joining the ICT delegation were private sector representatives traveling to the US with His Majesty, King Abdullah of Jordan. During the roundtable, participants discussed the tremendous gains made by the Arab region in the ICT arena over the past decade, particularly the growth of social media, and rise in Arabic content, but acknowledged a need for greater cooperation in ICT policy development at a regional level.
Following the roundtable, additional high-level meetings were held for ministerial representatives with US State Department officials to discuss Internet freedom, as well as the investment environment for ICT. A separate group of delegates took part in a roundtable discussion at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), which focused on trade and investment opportunities between the US and Middle East region. David Hamod from the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) facilitated the session, which included representatives from USTDA, International Executive Service Corps (IESC), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Department of Commerce. Both panelists and audience members discussed current US-Arab trade opportunities, access by Arab companies to investment capital, and factors behind the success of industries such as hardware production in Jordan.
The ICT Road Show concluded with a conference on “The Arab World after the Arab Spring: Opening to IT Freedom and Investment”, which examined issues and policies related to Internet freedom in the region, as well as how the political events of the past year have provided new openings for trade and investment. Ambassador Phil Verveer, the U.S. Coordinator for International Communication and Information Policy at the U.S. State Department issued the opening remarks during the conference, while additional keynotes were delivered by Alec Ross, the Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary of State, Jim Poisant of the World IT Services Alliance (WITSA), and Jim LeBlanc, representing the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NTVC). Panelists included US and Arab government officials, representatives from the private sector including Verizon, AT&T, Google, and VeriSign, as well as NGOs such as Freedom House, Access, and the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Organized by IJMA3-USA (The Arab ICT Organization) in partnership with NUSACC, the Arab ICT Road Show serves as an innovative platform to bring together high-level ICT sector expertise from the Arab world with the biggest names in the American investment community in order to explore the latest technologies, products and policy trends to emerge in the global market. Beyond the immediate partnership and investment opportunities the ICT Road Show provides, the diversity of nationalities among the delegates may serve to demonstrate the potential for a longer-term commitment to U.S.-Arab ICT sector collaboration. According to IJMA3-USA CEO Nizar Zakka, “the presence of such a large ICT delegation demonstrates that the relationship between the U.S. and the Middle East is not solely based on partnerships between governments, but can make dramatic strides through individual efforts.”