Under the umbrella of ESCWA and the League of Arab States (LAS), the first meeting of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the Arab Internet Governance Forum (Arab IGF) was held on 18-19 June 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. The meeting was convened by the Arab IGF secretariat, represented by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt, in collaboration with the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO), and was sponsored by the Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS) and CISCO Systems.

At the beginning of this week, the United Nations Secretary-General issued an appeal to stop violence everywhere including violence in the home. As Directors of the four United Nations Agencies who have been working together to highlight the importance of Gender Justice and Equality before the law1 as a clear path towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we call upon states in the Arab states region to respond to the Secretary-General’s appeal.

UNESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy said Monday member countries really need a regional institution that works toward increasing demand for technology and investing it better in socio-economic development. Tallawy was speaking at the opening of the Third Meeting of the UNESCWA Consultative Committee on Scientific and Technological Development and Technological Innovation (ESTIC) at the Holiday Inn Dunes Hotel (Verdun) in Beirut. A major focus of this meeting is the establishment of the ESCWA Technology Center (ETC).