IPv6 Regional Summit, 9 May 2023 – Tunisia

The Arab ICT Organization held the second edition of the Regional IPv6 Summit on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Gammarth, Tunisia in collaboration with the IPv6 Forum.

This important event was organized as part of the AICTO’s commitment to raising awareness of the importance of using the Sixth Internet Protocol, given the remarkable slowness of the Arab region in adopting national strategies to move from the fourth to the sixth version, as it has become necessary to intensify efforts and spread awareness about the benefits of IPv6 Work together to develop policies and incentives to encourage its adoption, carefully plan this transition and make the necessary investments to ensure a smooth transition.

During the second edition of this summit, the establishment of the “IPv6 Arab Enhanced Council” was announced, which mainly aims to maximize the benefits that accrue to the economic benefit of the Arab region by increasing the rate of dissemination and adoption of the sixth version of the Internet Protocol and contributing to Reducing the gap with developed countries in adopting IPv6

The summit witnessed a wide and high-level physical attendance of delegations and prominent experts in the field from the Arab region and the rest of the world, with live streaming available on social media networks. During the edition, the best international experiences were presented to benefit from their success stories in adopting IPv6 addressing, and the ranking of countries and operators in the Arab region in terms of their adoption of the sixth version of the Internet protocol was announced.

The summit was inaugurated by H.E. Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor, the Director-General of the Arab ICT Organization and was followed by opening speeches by Mr. Adnan Ben Halima, Vice President in Charge of Public Relations of Huawei Northern Africa, HE. Dr.  Mohamed Salah Ben Aissa – Deputy Secretary General – League of Arab States, HE Mr. Abdulbaset Albaour- Chair of Libya Communications and Informatics Authority (GACI) and HE. Dr. Ali AlMUAYAD – Chair- Communication and Media Commission (CMC).

The summit’s keynote speeches were delivered by distinguished speakers such as Professor Latif Ladid, President of the IPv6 Forum, Mr. Mustafa Al-Mahdi, Program Officer at ITU Arab Regional Office, Dr. Yan Zhong, Deputy General Manager of Huawei Tunisia, and Mr. Osama Al-Samit, Executive Director of Network Development at Tunisie Telecom.

The first session discussed the challenges of IPv6 in the context of the digital economy transformation, with the participation of Mr. Chokri Chihi, Director-General of the Ministry of Communication Technologies in Tunisia. The second session highlighted the efforts of regional and international organizations to contribute to the transition to the sixth version of the Internet protocol, featuring prominent experts such as Mr. Chafik Chaya, Regional Manager for Public Policy and Government Affairs at RIPE NCC, and Mr. Ayman Ghneim,  Deputy Secretary-General of the Arab Union for Digital Economy, Mrs. Wafa Dahmani – Stakholder Development Liaison -Afrinic, and Mr. Feras Feras Baccour President of ARISPA.

In his speech, Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor affirmed that the Arab Strategy for Digital Economy indicates that digital transformation has a positive impact on the GDP, clearly indicating that IPv6 is the basis for digitizing the economy. He also noted that the spread of IPv6 is low and still unbalanced among Arab countries. Moreover, most countries have individually identified their plans and strategies for IPv6, while the challenges are common to all countries in the region, necessitating joint efforts to achieve this goal.

1. Pr. Latif Ladid emphasized the crucial need to create a regional platform for dialogue to help implement the Arab digital economy strategy by developing a regional framework for IPv6 as a practical tool for harmonization and coordination that allows Arab countries to work together to overcome these common challenges and share results and outputs.

From his side, Dr. Mohamed Saleh bin Issa emphasized the necessity of collecting and incorporating strategies, frameworks, and policies approved by the main stakeholders in the Arab League University (IT regulations and policies, digital strategy 2030, digital content, cyber security, sustainable development, Arab economic council’s contribution, etc.), in addition to the common challenges shared among all Arab member countries. Then, deducing the requirements that will be imposed on IP networks to design a “regional IPv6 framework” under the regional main plan IPv6.

Mr. Adnan bin Halima also called for improving capabilities and skills in the field of IPv6 in the Arab region in order to provide a community of accredited experts and practitioners of the IPv6 protocol to assist stakeholders in the public and private sectors in implementing the Arab digital strategy.

Alongside the summit, AICTO held the 26th session of its executive council. It also hosted meetings of the Arab Group of Internet Affairs during the period from May 9 to 11, 2023, in Tunis which is tasked with discussing the Arab cybersecurity strategy for adoption by Arab countries.