Brussels, 25/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - A ministerial conference on new technology and the information society in the EuroMed area will be held in Cairo in Egypt on Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 February. The proposed subject is the “creation of an environment favourable to the information society”. The meeting will be held under the auspices of the EU, represented by Slovenia and the European Commission. 250 delegates are expected to attend.
The aim is to set up so-called “win-win” projects and partnerships: development and joint operation of mutual interests. The aim, too, is to encourage investment linking public and private sectors. According to the European Commission, ministers will discuss issues such as creating a foreign direct investment-promoting environment in the EuroMed area, with investment from North to South. Investment in the opposite direction is also planned.
Ministers will also discuss the lack of staff qualified in information and communication technology, and the socio-economic impact. They will take stock of EuroMed area cooperation mechanisms on regulation, connectivity, research and information and communication technology for development, including multilingual e-content, e-learning and e-government. Recommendations on enhancing cooperation and information sharing will be adopted and monitored by the information society working group.
The suggested working method will be permanent dialogue. The organisers intend to make the information society “the basic instrument for improving and enhancing cooperation between EuroMed partners”. They suggest carrying out a comparison of existing programmes with the needs identified for the Euro-Mediterranean area. (F.B.)