The UAE, represented by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), hosted the 54th meeting of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers (ATICM) on 24th July 2024 in Dubai to discuss the results of the 54th Session of the Arab Permanent Postal Commission (APPC) and the 53rd Arab ICT Permanent Committee meeting.

The meeting was chaired by TDRA's Director-General Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, in the presence of representatives of Arab telecom ministers and the heads of delegates from the Arab states.

In his opening speech, Al Mesmar welcomed the attendees and stressed on the importance of the meeting, which discussed the ICT sector's themes raised by the Arab ICT Permanent Committee at its 53rd meeting, in addition to the proposals submitted by the other States.

He called for improving the mechanism of action and keeping up with the aspirations of the Arab societies that pin high hopes on the ICT sector for development, prosperity and a better life.

Al Mesmar added,, “With increasing global competitiveness, digitalisation has become a key element to enable organisations to adapt to changing circumstances and achieve vital strategic goals. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to improve the digital infrastructure, and use data and artificial intelligence; as they are the main keys to driving innovation and progress in the Arab region, which in turn contribute to improving services of critical sectors such as smart learning, healthcare, digital commerce and others.”

The UAE delegation was headed by TDRA’s Deputy Director-General Mohammed Al Ramsi.

The 54th meeting of the Executive Bureau of ATICM summarised the recommendations relating to: the Arab ICT Strategy, Internet governance, coordination of work amongst the ICT industry players in the Arab region, review of the achievement of goals of the World Summit on the Information Society at the regional level for the past 20 years (WSIS)+20, issues of the State of Palestine, and the outputs of the working groups of the Arab ICT Permanent Committee.