Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and Zambia's Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati signed Monday a memorandum of understanding between the two sides, to enhance cooperation in the fields of communications and information technology. According to a press release by the ministry, the two countries largely cooperate in the areas of digital transformation, postal services, and institutional capacity building. The agreement also includes enhancing cooperation in building human capacities, artificial intelligence, e-learning, digital inclusion, and infrastructure. The two ministers held extensive discussions during which they reviewed the most prominent areas of proposed cooperation between the two countries in the fields of communications and information technology and the mechanisms of their implementation in a way that achieves the common interests of both countries. Minister Talaat said that Egypt is keen to strengthen cooperation with all its brothers from African countries. He added that the relations between Egypt and Zambia are witnessing steady growth at all levels, pointing out that it was agreed to cooperate in a number of areas of common interest for the two countries, related to communications and information technology. The areas of cooperation between the two countries, according to the statement, include exchanging experiences, visions and success stories in both countries in the field of digital transformation and benefiting from Egypt's digital experience, as well as cooperation in the field of startups and stimulating creative thought and entrepreneurship, in addition to cooperation in the field of human development by hosting a group of Zambian youth to receive training at the Information Technology Institute and the National Telecommunications Institute, and to discuss the possibility of hosting a group of students in Zambia to study at Egypt University of Informatics. It was also agreed to cooperate in the field of postal services provided to communities in both countries, as well as cooperation in the fields of communications and international infrastructure by benefiting from the Egyptian international infrastructure, as well as cooperation in technological disciplines such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. On his part, Minister Mutati affirmed that this cooperation aims to benefit from the successful Egyptian experience in all fields of communication and information technology, in a way that supports the efforts made in Zambia to achieve digital transformation. This is in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed between the two ministries; the Egyptian government provides support to the government of Zambia in the areas of digital transformation by facilitating the establishment of partnerships with multinational companies and local companies, and the digitization of the government, in addition to supporting digital inclusion efforts in Zambia with special attention to women and youth, in addition to building institutional capacities in the institutions and agencies of the government of Zambia. The Egyptian government, through the National Post Authority, also provides support for capacity-building activities with postal services companies in Zambia in the field of digitizing postal services, in addition to supporting the development and formulation of Zambia's strategy for artificial intelligence by taking advantage of Egypt's national strategy for artificial intelligence as a guide. The MoU also provides for supporting international linkage efforts in Zambia, providing support to Zambia in the field of e-learning, as well as building human capacities and developing skills through the participation of Egypt's strategy for building human capacities and implementing a number of activities aimed at twinning and transferring knowledge related to the current Egyptian capacity-building initiatives that include serving the needs of Zambia's e-government strategy, as well as allocating a number of training opportunities for Zambia's youth and cadres, as well as hosting the Zambia leaders responsible for capacity building to learn about the Egyptian experience in this field.
