FIRST MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE ARAB ICT REGULATORS NETWORK MEETING Dead Sea, Jordan  -  21-22 March 2004

Held under the Patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II, and organized by the Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the roadmap for developing the ICT sector in the Arab World took shape as 17 Arab regulatory authorities and entities, came together during the first Arab ICT Regulators’ Network meeting in Jordan in an effort to develop the regulatory environment of ICT in the Arab World.

The Arab ICT Regulators’ Network is an independent organization created at the ITU’s first Arab Regulators meeting in Algiers in April 2003, with the objective of sharing experiences and developing expertise that will enable Arab ICT regulators to facilitate growth in telecom products and services and achieve equality of access to such services and products in the Arab region.

Mrs. Muna Nejim, CEO of TRC welcomed the participants and thanked His Majesty King Abdalla II of Jordan for his patronage of the event. She also thanked HE Mr. Fawaz Al-Zoubi, Minister of ICT in Jordan for his continuous support. Mrs. Nejim also expressed her sincere thanks to Mr. Toure and the ITU for their support.

Mr. Mohammed Bolfadhel head of the Algerian Regulatory Authority detailed the work done so far under the Algerian chairmanship. He closed his speech by transferring the chairmanship of the Network to TRC of Jordan.

Mr. Toure confirmed the ITU’s commitment to the development of the telecom sector in the world and the Arab region and the ITU’s support for the Network.

The meeting discussed the draft Network’s Strategic Plan as well as the By-laws. Discussions centered around the Strategic Plan and the approval of its general framework, taking into consideration the By-laws of the network. A committee, under the chairmanship of Morocco was tasked with studying the draft Plan and submit a final report to the coordinating committee by the June 2004. The by-laws were approved at this meeting.

The meeting also approved Iraq as a member of the network. Egypt was nominated for the chairmanship of the network for the following year, after which the chair will rotate according to the Arabic alphabetical order of country names.

The ITU-BDT was also represented by the Cairo office acting Head and the Arab coordinator in Geneva as well as representatives from the Nigerian and Kenyan regulators who all attended the meeting as observers.    

The meeting was followed by a three-day professional development workshop, arranged and hosted by the TRC and supported by the ITU and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The workshop was designed to share international and regional experiences on key topics of interest to telecom regulators, including Network interconnection, radio spectrum management, dispute resolution, and ethics and conflicts of interest.  The presentations delivered during this workshop will assist ICT regulators within the Arab region to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving global sector.

For additional information please visit: http://www.ituarabic.org/ARN/index.htm