21January 2003
President Bashar al-Assad has given special backing for the information and communication technologies which play a major role in the development process, Communications Minister, Dr. Mohammad Bachir Monajed said.
Minister Monajed acted on behalf of Premier Dr. Mohammad Mustafa Mero at the First National Workshop on National Strategy for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) in Socio-Economic Development in Syria. The one-day Workshop convened at the Sheraton Hotel In Damascus on Sunday. The Workshop, held by the Communications Ministry in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), was attended by Ministers, Minister Deputies, General Directors of institutions concerned, university professors, scientific research directors, Ambassadors, diplomats, and many businessmen and intellectuals.
Talking to ST at the First National Workshop on National Strategy for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) in Socio-Economic Development in Syria, Communications Minister Monajed said: زThe Workshop is the first of its kind on E-Strategy for Syria. As illustrated, Syria is heading forward making great improvement in her ICT capabilities and working hard to integrate this strategy into the whole socio-economic development strategy. It is important to define a special ICT strategy for Syria. This meeting is the first workshop to discuss the different issues that have been detected in the field survey carried out in some ministries and establishments. It also seeks to define a lay out and general lines of such a strategy.
Later this year another meeting will be held for the same purpose.
The overall strategy for the ICT strategy in Syria will be issued by the Cabinet-formed national team that is in charge of its elaboration.
I hope this workshop discusses and elaborates the findings of the team during its first stage of work, its correcting stage. Therefore, the meeting will be open to discussion made by different representatives of ministries and establishments. The discussions will help the team in correcting and refining the overall strategy and in generalising the experience on all other ministries..
Addressing the workshop the Minister said: Although we have full confidence in the major role played by ICT in socio-economic development for the reaching of the digital society and digital economy, we are also convinced that such technologies are not the magic cure for all of our development problems. The socio-economic development is based on many factors which should be treated as a whole by the adoption of a comprehensive development strategy. Among the major elements are: transparency, sovereignty of the law, illiteracy eradication, infrastructure availability, and accountability consolidation. Technologies cannot be considered as the alternative of all of these elements.
Listing the E-Strategy main accomplishments, the Communications Minister included: reorganising the communications sector, ICT
training, tele-centres, health, e-learning, and digital economy.
For his part, UNDP Res. Rep, Taoufik Ben Amara told ST that Syria is making continuous and steady changes towards modernisation.
Under the very able leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria has embarked on a number of political, economic and administrative reform initiatives. UNDP, Mr. Ben Amara emphasised, is honoured and pleased to contribute to this process.
Mr. Ben Amara said: While it is true that globalisation is being consistently criticised but as a result of ICT we now live in one planet and that is why we must do everything possible to minimise the misfortunes of globalisation and draw the maximum from the ICT. Our planet should also be a planet of peace, progress and prosperity for everyone.
ICT, the UNDP believes, can serve as a critical enabler to achieve many of the development goals agreed to by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit. This indicates that ICT has the potential to create earnings opportunities and jobs; improve delivery and access to health and education; facilitate information sharing and knowledge creation; increase the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of business and non-profitable organisations- all contributing to an enabling environment for development.
In ICT role in generating sharing and using knowledge and information in the digital age has great potential under the right policies and circumstances. We will contribute to support measures that foster an enabling environment for ICT and to catalytic activities targeting employment generation, education and poverty reduction. UNDP supports the establishment of a national development oriented strategy ensuring that the digital divide turning into digital opportunities and that ICT could serve achieving the development objectives of the population and not just the well educated and well off elites. The Sustainable Human Development Mandate of UNDP places it in the right position to collaborate with Syriaصs new economic drive. We have identified a number of innovative tools which can be used today in assessing its counterparts more effectively. One of the principal tools is the use of ICT for development.
The E-Strategy for Syria Project aims at creating a platform for analysing national needs and setting a framework for a national strategy of using ICT in managing the opportunities and challenges posed by the new global environment. It is participatory and multidisciplinary and at the same time based on a series of workshops bringing together national public and private stakeholders. The process includes the convening of: a national symposium to synthesise all national ICT efforts, and identify areas of priority and gaps in strategies and policies; sectoral workshops to consider sectoral strategies; a national symposium to present the outcomes of the sectoral workshops and to compile a draft National E-Strategy for Syria.
Every symposium and workshop is to discuss a number of studies bringing together different aspects of current situation and future trends and development needs. These activities will coincide with the E-readiness assessment planned under UNDP project, namely, Strategic Programme for ICT in Socio-Economic Development. In addition to discussing E-Strategy, this meeting will also serve as a forum to review the results of the E-readiness assessment and use this outcome as inputs into national strategy. The Project committee members have been since last June working very hard to prepare for this workshop. Finally Mr. Ben Amara expressed confidence that on the bases of the studies and recommendations presented to the workshop, Syria can now identify areas of priority and gaps of strategies and policies and outline a draft national e-strategy attaining opinions from all participants.
From the UK- De Montfort University Business School in Leicester, professor, Paul Foley, told ST of his participation in the workshop.
Professor Foley said: I together with my two colleagues were in Syria last spring looking the impact of ICT within government and citizens, government and infrastructure. It is good to see that many of the ideas we have helped develop is moving forward. It is nice to be back to help with discussions about developing e-strategy for Syria.
Regarding the level of participation in the workshop, I think the initial session, where there were so many ministers here, shows a great deal of support for the project. As I understood the President is very keen on this area. This can bring great reward to Syria and the Syrian people in terms of getting information and being able to get better services and perhaps saving money and enabling Syrian businessmen to export more to the world.
I hope the workshop helps the emergence of a clear e-strategy. You cannot help the emerge of a whole strategy in one day. It has to lay down a number of guidelines for key issues to be addressed with some agreement on that, and with some agreement on how the strategy, when once developed, will be taken forward and how it will be implemented. Probably one of the main parts is managing the whole process, managing development of the strategy so the individual projects will be successful when they take place. The discussions have shown that there is a need for a central ministry that sits above all other ministries, because there will be a need for a special type of legal expertise to set standards to decide on how money will be allocated. This cannot be done by a ministry which is in competition for resources with another ministry. A ministry of that level will also have the power and authority to tell other ministries that they need to comply with other guidelines and standards so that all systems and people will talk together. It will be difficult to develop ICT in just one ministry because when it happened it should happen across all ministries.
Also talking to ST, the Rector of IT Engineering Faculty, Dr. Imad Mustafa, said: My presentation to the workshop outlines the guidelines of the strategy we have proposed before we actually started in drafting the national strategy for using ICT in socio-economic development in Syria. I outlined the major guidelines on how to propose to act, what the case studies and failures are, and what the success stories attained after exposure to the international experience and case studies are. We presented major points that served as the basis for our proposed work for drafting a national strategy. Most of my colleagues followed suit presenting the details of our strategy.
The purpose of the workshop is to present our initial ideas and to hear from the public. We want everybody to participate in the event.
We do not want to isolate ourselves in an ivory tower, but to establish real dialogue that can enrich our ideas.
President Bashar al-Assad has given special backing for the information and communication technologies which play a major role in the development process, Communications Minister, Dr. Mohammad Bachir Monajed said.
Minister Monajed acted on behalf of Premier Dr. Mohammad Mustafa Mero at the First National Workshop on National Strategy for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) in Socio-Economic Development in Syria. The one-day Workshop convened at the Sheraton Hotel In Damascus on Sunday. The Workshop, held by the Communications Ministry in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), was attended by Ministers, Minister Deputies, General Directors of institutions concerned, university professors, scientific research directors, Ambassadors, diplomats, and many businessmen and intellectuals.
Talking to ST at the First National Workshop on National Strategy for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) in Socio-Economic Development in Syria, Communications Minister Monajed said: زThe Workshop is the first of its kind on E-Strategy for Syria. As illustrated, Syria is heading forward making great improvement in her ICT capabilities and working hard to integrate this strategy into the whole socio-economic development strategy. It is important to define a special ICT strategy for Syria. This meeting is the first workshop to discuss the different issues that have been detected in the field survey carried out in some ministries and establishments. It also seeks to define a lay out and general lines of such a strategy.
Later this year another meeting will be held for the same purpose.
The overall strategy for the ICT strategy in Syria will be issued by the Cabinet-formed national team that is in charge of its elaboration.
I hope this workshop discusses and elaborates the findings of the team during its first stage of work, its correcting stage. Therefore, the meeting will be open to discussion made by different representatives of ministries and establishments. The discussions will help the team in correcting and refining the overall strategy and in generalising the experience on all other ministries..
Addressing the workshop the Minister said: Although we have full confidence in the major role played by ICT in socio-economic development for the reaching of the digital society and digital economy, we are also convinced that such technologies are not the magic cure for all of our development problems. The socio-economic development is based on many factors which should be treated as a whole by the adoption of a comprehensive development strategy. Among the major elements are: transparency, sovereignty of the law, illiteracy eradication, infrastructure availability, and accountability consolidation. Technologies cannot be considered as the alternative of all of these elements.
Listing the E-Strategy main accomplishments, the Communications Minister included: reorganising the communications sector, ICT
training, tele-centres, health, e-learning, and digital economy.
For his part, UNDP Res. Rep, Taoufik Ben Amara told ST that Syria is making continuous and steady changes towards modernisation.
Under the very able leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria has embarked on a number of political, economic and administrative reform initiatives. UNDP, Mr. Ben Amara emphasised, is honoured and pleased to contribute to this process.
Mr. Ben Amara said: While it is true that globalisation is being consistently criticised but as a result of ICT we now live in one planet and that is why we must do everything possible to minimise the misfortunes of globalisation and draw the maximum from the ICT. Our planet should also be a planet of peace, progress and prosperity for everyone.
ICT, the UNDP believes, can serve as a critical enabler to achieve many of the development goals agreed to by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit. This indicates that ICT has the potential to create earnings opportunities and jobs; improve delivery and access to health and education; facilitate information sharing and knowledge creation; increase the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of business and non-profitable organisations- all contributing to an enabling environment for development.
In ICT role in generating sharing and using knowledge and information in the digital age has great potential under the right policies and circumstances. We will contribute to support measures that foster an enabling environment for ICT and to catalytic activities targeting employment generation, education and poverty reduction. UNDP supports the establishment of a national development oriented strategy ensuring that the digital divide turning into digital opportunities and that ICT could serve achieving the development objectives of the population and not just the well educated and well off elites. The Sustainable Human Development Mandate of UNDP places it in the right position to collaborate with Syriaصs new economic drive. We have identified a number of innovative tools which can be used today in assessing its counterparts more effectively. One of the principal tools is the use of ICT for development.
The E-Strategy for Syria Project aims at creating a platform for analysing national needs and setting a framework for a national strategy of using ICT in managing the opportunities and challenges posed by the new global environment. It is participatory and multidisciplinary and at the same time based on a series of workshops bringing together national public and private stakeholders. The process includes the convening of: a national symposium to synthesise all national ICT efforts, and identify areas of priority and gaps in strategies and policies; sectoral workshops to consider sectoral strategies; a national symposium to present the outcomes of the sectoral workshops and to compile a draft National E-Strategy for Syria.
Every symposium and workshop is to discuss a number of studies bringing together different aspects of current situation and future trends and development needs. These activities will coincide with the E-readiness assessment planned under UNDP project, namely, Strategic Programme for ICT in Socio-Economic Development. In addition to discussing E-Strategy, this meeting will also serve as a forum to review the results of the E-readiness assessment and use this outcome as inputs into national strategy. The Project committee members have been since last June working very hard to prepare for this workshop. Finally Mr. Ben Amara expressed confidence that on the bases of the studies and recommendations presented to the workshop, Syria can now identify areas of priority and gaps of strategies and policies and outline a draft national e-strategy attaining opinions from all participants.
From the UK- De Montfort University Business School in Leicester, professor, Paul Foley, told ST of his participation in the workshop.
Professor Foley said: I together with my two colleagues were in Syria last spring looking the impact of ICT within government and citizens, government and infrastructure. It is good to see that many of the ideas we have helped develop is moving forward. It is nice to be back to help with discussions about developing e-strategy for Syria.
Regarding the level of participation in the workshop, I think the initial session, where there were so many ministers here, shows a great deal of support for the project. As I understood the President is very keen on this area. This can bring great reward to Syria and the Syrian people in terms of getting information and being able to get better services and perhaps saving money and enabling Syrian businessmen to export more to the world.
I hope the workshop helps the emergence of a clear e-strategy. You cannot help the emerge of a whole strategy in one day. It has to lay down a number of guidelines for key issues to be addressed with some agreement on that, and with some agreement on how the strategy, when once developed, will be taken forward and how it will be implemented. Probably one of the main parts is managing the whole process, managing development of the strategy so the individual projects will be successful when they take place. The discussions have shown that there is a need for a central ministry that sits above all other ministries, because there will be a need for a special type of legal expertise to set standards to decide on how money will be allocated. This cannot be done by a ministry which is in competition for resources with another ministry. A ministry of that level will also have the power and authority to tell other ministries that they need to comply with other guidelines and standards so that all systems and people will talk together. It will be difficult to develop ICT in just one ministry because when it happened it should happen across all ministries.
Also talking to ST, the Rector of IT Engineering Faculty, Dr. Imad Mustafa, said: My presentation to the workshop outlines the guidelines of the strategy we have proposed before we actually started in drafting the national strategy for using ICT in socio-economic development in Syria. I outlined the major guidelines on how to propose to act, what the case studies and failures are, and what the success stories attained after exposure to the international experience and case studies are. We presented major points that served as the basis for our proposed work for drafting a national strategy. Most of my colleagues followed suit presenting the details of our strategy.
The purpose of the workshop is to present our initial ideas and to hear from the public. We want everybody to participate in the event.
We do not want to isolate ourselves in an ivory tower, but to establish real dialogue that can enrich our ideas.
Bashar Sati
© Syria Times 2003
