CAIRO: The Egyptian ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT) has praised the partnership between the government and private sector, stating that it has proven to be a successful formula for the implementation of a number of communication information technology (CIT) projects. We are always concerned to strengthen our relations with the business community and the civil society and we will continue with the current policy of partnering with the private sector to empower the national ICT industry, said Minister of Communication and Information Technology Tarek Kamel in a press release on the ministry's Web site. According to the press release, ministry officials, led by the minister of MCIT, realized that in order to promote the growth of the CIT sector in Egypt, the ministry had to enlist the aid of the private sector to spread ICT tools nationwide and to set the foundation of an ICT-oriented community. To meet these objectives, MCIT has relied on the support of the private sector for the success of its initiatives and projects. "All MCIT initiatives are implemented through the public-private partnerships, said Kamel. Public-private partnerships, such as "PC for every home and "Free Internet were a few of those successfully launched by the ministry with the financial and technical aid of the private sector. By promoting private sector involvement in an increasing number of new fields, the government hopes to provide job opportunities and make available to the public a wide spectrum of services at even lower prices, according to the press release. The "PC for every home initiative launched by the ministry, which found 120,000 people owning home computers, is one example. This initiative was made possible with the help of banks, financing agencies, private PC assembling companies and NGOs, in addition to Telecom Egypt, which collaborated with MCIT to make the home ownership of computers affordable for families. To attract the private sector's participation with the government in the CIT sector, MCIT has implemented favorable legislation for the private sector in the last few years, including the intellectual property law in 2002 and the electronic signature law in 2004. The ministry has also partnered with the private sector to launch several training programs to tackle the lack of expertise in the field and aid in providing the required know-how youth need to enter a competitive job market. MCIT helps creating super young ambassadors with professional training programs on the latest technologies in collaboration with multinational companies, Kamel said. Egyptian engineers and technicians are the ones developing the infrastructure of neighboring countries and they are known for their competence. Collaborating with the private sector, the ministry has launched both intermediate and advanced training programs for youth interested in the field. The program includes every stage, from a basic skills training program offering introductory courses, to a specialized training program including both an application-oriented and a programming-oriented component, which was launched with the support of private sector IT companies such as IBM, Orascom and Fujitsu. MCIT has also taken public-private partnerships a step further and expanded the idea to what it calls multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs), which aim at promoting, facilitating and stimulating the creation of innovative enterprises capable of taking full advantage of ICT. Through this, non governmental organizations (NGOs) are seen as major stakeholders. NGO involvement in MSPs includes identifying local opportunities for creation or expansion of markets, encouraging entrepreneurship and networking among entrepreneurs, and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in restructuring their businesses and processing via ICT and the Internet. Some of the projects that fall under MSPs are carried out by the ICT Trust Fund, such as the Smart Schools Network initiative, which aims at improving teaching and educational methods by ensuring that all students are computer literate after preparatory school in preparation for professional life.
