The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the League of Arab States (LAS) organized the First Joint Workshop on Developing the Arab Digital Agenda / ICT Strategy (ADAICTS) as a standalone Side-Event in parallel to the LAS 32^nd Arab Working Group on the Arab ICT strategy. The event was held within the framework of the strategic cooperation between the two organizations and in the context of the dedicated track of “Advancing Digital Cooperation and Development Arab States Action Programme (ADCD-ASAP)”, launched by ESCWA in 2020.
The workshop aimed to kick-off the process for shaping and developing the ADAICTS as a joint regional public good and to agree on the way forward with prospective partners from the Arab countries, Arab and UN organizations, and multi-stakeholders, active in the ICT for development field in the Arab region. It set the stage for a series of similar multi-stakeholders’ events to elaborate and discuss successive versions of the ADAICTS, under ESCWA leadership and LAS umbrella, and the elaboration of the Unified Arab Digital Agenda for the ten coming years, expected to be finalized by the end of 2021, endorsed by the Arab ICT ministers and launched soon after..
The ADAICTS structure builds on the five clusters of the updated guiding template for the National Digital Development Reviews/Arab Digital Development Report (NDDRs/ADDR) for 2021, and is guided by “ESCWA's vision on the work modalities for producing, developing and implementing the Arab Information and Communication Technology Strategy (The Arab Digital Agenda).

Meeting Details

• Information note
• Agenda

Presentations
Perspectives on Regional Digital Development Agendas in different parts of the World:

• European Commission, Mr. Thibaut Kleiner
• ECA, Mr. Jean-Paul Adam
• ECLAC, Mr. Sebastian Rovira
• ESCAP, Ms. Tiziana Bonapace
• ESCWA, Mr. Mansour Farah

National Digital Agendas and Strategies in the Arab region:

• Jordan, Mr. Tawfiq Abu-baker
• Mauritania, Mr. El Hassen ould Babe
• Mauritania, Mr. El Hassen ould Babe (Presentation)
• Oman, Mr. Rashid Alalawi
• Tunisia, Ms. Thouraya Ezzine
• United Arab Emirates, Mr. Omar Alnemer

Perspectives of the key partners to the ADAICTS Joint Project:

• Arab Federation for Digital Economy (AFDE), Mr. Ayman Ghoneim
• Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organization (AICTO), Mr. Mohamed Ben Amor
• UNESCO-Cairo Office, Mr. Paul Hector

Workshop Documentation:

• Arab Digital Agenda/ICT Strategy (ADAICTS) proposed structure, version zero
• Guiding Template for National Digital Development Reviews 2021
• Partnering organizations Matrix
• National Digital Strategies template
• ToRs, National Experts - Core Research & Technical Cooperation Mechanism (CRTCM)
• ESCWA's vision on the work modalities for producing, developing and implementing the Arab Information and Communication Technology Strategy (The Arab Digital Agenda) (EVWM)
• Proposed Arab Digital Agenda: Preliminary Framework for the Arab Information and Communication Technology Strategy for Sustainable Development
• Regional Plan of Action for Building the Information Society, E/ESCWA/ICTD/2004/4