France’s Minister of Industry Nicole Fontaine and Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ahmed Nazif have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on post, IT and telecommunications.
Within the scope of cooperation, Egypt and France will work on strengthening co-operation in the key sectors of post, telecommunications and information technology, focusing on projects like e-government, deregulation, modernization of postal services, human resources training and education, and the development of IT-oriented technology parks.
During the signing ceremony, Nazif proposed that a coordinating body should start the implementation activities of the MoU. The coordinating body, namely, a joint committee of experts, will work on boosting the effectiveness of the MoU. Its work will be mainly to decide on the annual program of co-operation, prepare and follow up on the joint activities, coordinate funding in particular within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
Fontaine stressed the importance of considering the major place that France and Egypt would take jointly in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Moreover, she explained France's commitment to the WSIS and recognizes Egypt's efforts in this regard, referring to the Cairo declaration signed in June 2003 at the Pan-Arab Conference in preparation for the WSIS. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)