By:
Nana Appiah Acquaye
The
Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Egypt, Raafat Hendy
has held high-level talks with Naim Yazbeck, President of Microsoft Middle East
and Africa, to explore deeper cooperation in artificial intelligence and
digital capacity building.
The
meeting, which brought together senior officials from Egypt’s Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology and Microsoft Egypt, focused on
advancing joint efforts to support the country’s digital transformation agenda.
Hendy
reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to adopting emerging technologies, particularly
artificial intelligence, highlighting the implementation of the second edition
of the National AI Strategy as a key priority. He noted that the strategy aims
to position AI as a central driver of economic competitiveness and public
sector innovation.
The
minister emphasized the importance of partnerships with global technology firms
to facilitate knowledge transfer and build local expertise. He said such
collaboration would strengthen the capacity of national professionals, enhance
service delivery, and support the integration of AI into government operations.
Discussions
also covered ongoing initiatives under a memorandum of understanding between
MCIT and Microsoft Egypt, which includes plans to train approximately 100,000
young people, IT professionals, and government employees in AI technologies.
The programme incorporates training-of-trainers models, tailored learning
tracks, and hands-on technical instruction.
Both
parties agreed to expand cooperation through specialized training programmes
aimed at supporting startups and strengthening digital skills within government
institutions. Plans are also underway to develop targeted capacity-building
initiatives for selected public sector entities, supported by a detailed
implementation framework.
The
meeting further explored collaboration between Microsoft and the Ministry’s
Applied Innovation Center to enhance the integration of “Karnak,” an Arabic
large language model, with locally hosted cloud infrastructure in Egypt.
Officials
said the partnership would play a key role in accelerating the adoption of
AI-driven solutions, improving access to digital services, and advancing
Egypt’s broader digital transformation objectives.
