CAIRO: Egypt will host the Global Public Policy Conference (GPPC) 2007, an international Communications and Information Technology (CIT) event, from from Nov. 4-6, 2007. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the conference, which is organized every two years by World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), will focus on setting general policies for the ICT industry worldwide. Inaugurated in 1999, the conference takes place every other year and is hosted by a different country each time. Established in April 2004 as Egypt's main developer, promoter and transformer of information telecommunications, electronics and software industry, the Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics and Software Alliance (Eitesal) will organize the event. "Egypt is the first country in the Middle East to organize this event, as the previous two rounds were held in Argentina and Malaysia, said Eitesal's CEO Waleed Gad. The international event is expected to assemble over 500 senior executives, government officials and policy makers from around 70 countries. GPPC 2007 Egypt will commence under the theme "M to E for a Brighter Future, focusing on providing a platform for discourse relating to the development of manual to electronic applications within Egypt and the region. Topics to be discussed in the conference include e-government, e-health and e-education services, internet governance, intellectual property protection, internet and mobile content, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and media convergence. "For the past few years, positioning Egypt on the global ICT map has become a top priority for a number of stakeholders throughout Egypt. A number of non-ICT sectors have embraced ICT as the way forward, and donors from around the world are focusing their resources and assistance on Egypt's ICT development, Gad said. Egypt has been embracing this strategy since the establishment of the MCIT in October 1999. As a means to promote the ministry's efforts, a press conference and presentation tour will be held in Smart Village, which provides a high tech environment for IT and Telecom companies in Egypt. "The conference program will also include a promotion of Egypt itself, Eitesal said. The conference agenda includes a morning golf tournament, a gala dinner at the Pyramids, pre and post conference tours to Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh as well as a Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan.
