Within the framework of its endeavors to enhance joint Arab action and inter-regional and global cooperation in the field of safety and security of technological transformations at the strategic, technical and organizational levels, the Arab ICT Organization organized the “Regional Digital Trust Days” under the theme: “Cooperation for enhancing the climate of trust and Security towards building a-digital sustainable future” on November 29-30 and December 01, 2022 in Tunis – Republic of Tunisia.
This important event, which spanned over three days, was attended by high-level delegations from many Arab countries, such as the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Tunisia, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Republic of Djibouti, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Sudan, the Republic of Iraq, the State of Palestine, the State of Qatar, the Republic of Lebanon, the State of Libya, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Yemen, and enhanced by the presence of His Excellency Dr. Nizar ben Neji Minister of communication technologies in Tunisia and H. Exc. Dr. Mohamed Saleh ben Issa, Deputy Secretary General and President of the League of Arab States of Tunis Center also their Excellencies directors of Arab and regional Authorities and organizations, and eminent experts in Cybersecurity field and Digital Trust from Arab and African regions and the rest of the world.
The first day of the event was dedicated to the second edition of the Arab High-Level Forum on Cybersecurity. On this occasion, the official launch of the Arab Strategy for Cybersecurity and the website https://cybersecurity4arab.com/ were announced, with the aim of dealing with the latest technological developments in the field of cybersecurity to confront risks and the challenges produced by emerging crises on the one hand and technological development on the other hand, especially with the proliferation of big data and artificial intelligence.
H. Exc. Eng. Mohamed ben Amor _ Director General of the Arab ICT Organization has inaugurated the “Regional Days of Digital Trust”, by welcoming all distinguished guests and thanking all speakers and attendees for accepting the invitation and contributing to the enrichment of this important event.
He pointed out that this edition of Cybersecurity Forum falls within the framework of following up the initiative that the organization has worked on since last year, which enabled the development of the Arab Strategic Vision of Cybersecurity launched under the high patronage and presence of His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Abu Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States.
The Arab ICT Organization is launching the Arab Strategy of Cybersecurity in order to highlight the opportunities and challenges surrounding the security of Arab cyberspace, especially in order to propose programs that stimulate joint Arab cooperation and support Arab integration toward a safe and secure Arab space and contribute to the integration of the Arab digital economy in the global digital economy, reaching growth, integration, and prosperity for the peoples of the region.
This initiative aims to raise Arab capacities in this major strategic field, when the recent health crisis of Covid-19 has increased the alert to its importance, especially in continuing to provide online services.
H. Exc. Dr. Nizar ben Neji, Minister of Communication Technologies in the Republic of Tunisia, has enhanced by his presence the high-level official opening ceremony of the “Regional Days of Digital Trust”. During his speech, he praised the efforts of the Arab ICT Organization in launching the Arab Strategy of Cybersecurity and developing a unified Arab vision and a joint action plan to confront several cyber safety challenges in order to protect digital sovereignty in the region and protect digital infrastructure from cyber-attacks, stressing the need to develop the legal system for the digital field and provide national competencies and skills and the implementation of cooperation mechanisms at the local, regional and global levels, given that cyberspace is an open space and its protection is a shared responsibility.
From his side, Mr. Adnan Bin Halima, Vice President in charge of Public Relations, at Huawei Northern Africa, extends his thanks to their partner, the Arab ICT Organization, hoping that this fruitful cooperation will further develop. He emphasized the role played by Huawei, which is being able to provide reliable, secure, and available infrastructure at all times. Cybersecurity is at the core of Huawei’s mission which means security in the design phase (Security By Design). He also pointed out the necessity to benefit from the skills of young people and develop their knowledge in the digital and technological field, as these young people are the engine of growth in the future.
H. Exc. Dr. Mohamed Saleh ben Issa, Deputy Secretary General and President of the League of Arab States of Tunis Center transmitted the greetings of His Excellency the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and his wishes for the success of this forum, stressing the great interest that the Arab League attaches to data security/cybersecurity issues, which requires Concerted Arab efforts to enhance confidence and security in cyberspace as a fundamental pillar for building a sustainable and shared digital future.
His Excellency Dr. Khaled Wali, Director of the Communications and Information Technology Development Department at the League of Arab States, said that the success of our Arab countries in the transition to the digital economy requires the implementation of the Arab Strategy of communications technologies, as one of its parts is cybersecurity, in order to advance economic and social development and reduce the risk of the gap between developed and under developing countries.
The second day was dedicated to the activities of the third session of the Inter-regional Forum for Digital Trust and Standardization to highlight the main role played by national digital certification authorities in building “trusted digital societies” with a special focus on ways to enhance mutual recognition and interoperability between Arab countries and with other countries in the field of digital trust services, especially digital signature.
The third day was dedicated to specialized workshops in the field of digital trust, and standardization, and for working group meetings, related to AICTO’s project: “Regional Network for Digital Trust”, held in parallel with the meeting of AICTO’s General Assembly on the first of December 2022.
