Staff report: CAIRO, July 30, 2018 - President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has reiterated the will and commitment of the state to employing and investing all of Egypt's human potentials for the establishment of the equal opportunity society. The envisaged society, the president said, is the one where Egyptian citizens all enjoy equal opportunities for leading a dignified life and where they can effectively participate, especially through the use of the world's most up-to-date technologies, in the comprehensive development process. In a speech he gave during the inauguration of the 7th annual conference-cum-exhibition on communications and information technology for people with special needs held at Al Manara International Conference Centre in Cairo Monday, President Sisi expressed appreciation for the strong will that people with disabilities demonstrate. Themed "Integration, Empowerment, Participation", the conference aims at supporting and empowering people with special needs through communications and information technology tools in all walks of life. The dedication of the conference and associated activities to the issue of the social empowerment of people of disabilities comes as an act of crowning the persistence and ambitions of those sons and daughters of the great people of Egypt who managed, through strong will and effort, to embody an idea and produce solid evidence that innovativeness can never ever be disrupted except when surrender and despair be let to slip in, President Sisi said. Attending the event's inauguration Monday were Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, presidential assistant for national and strategic projects Sherif Ismail, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and a number of cabinet ministers and senior state officials. Stressing that the state places investment in the building of the human being atop of its priorities, President Sisi said that persistent steps have in pursuance of this attitude been taken to optimise the modalities of benefiting from the huge energies of people of special needs. The president praised as honourable the representation of people with special needs in parliament. Such honourable representation, he added, allows them to practice their rights as so unprecedentedly guaranteed in the 2014 Constitution. Noting that 2018 had earlier been declared a year for people with special needs, President Sisi said that this year has witnessed the endorsement of a new law for them and the channelling of efforts by various state institutions in the direction of integrating them into the country's developmental strategies. Hailing as "a bright picture" the scene of the range of utilising communications and information technology tools in removing all hurdles before people with special needs, President Sisi said that this commendable picture is one of the fruits of two years of persistent work to implement the initiative to integrate and empower them to use communications and information technology in a way that conforms to Egypt's sustainable development vision 2030 and the United Nations global agenda for sustainable development goals. The president said that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's winning of several world awards in the field of using ICT to integrate and empower people with special needs reflects international acknowledgement of Egypt's policies that support the principles of human rights and its abidance by international obligations in a way that enables it to lead regionally in this field. The president also announced the establishment of a technical centre for services to people with special needs. The projected centre will be the first such facility in Africa and will inter alia seek to develop the use of suitable assistance technology as a medium for over-phone communication between people with hearing and speaking difficulties.
