Agenda

Mr. Karim Abdelghani comes with an experience of around 17 years in Information and Communication Technology, specifically in the area of international relations in this vibrant field.  Throughout these years, he worked for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt, the International Finance Corporation, and the ITU.  He is a Chevening scholar and received a Masters degree in International Development from the University of Birmingham in 2009.  Moreover, he is currently the Programme Coordinator in the ITU Arab Regional Office where he coordinates with stakeholders in the region on several regional issues including Smart Learning, digital health, Arab Digital Content, digital agriculture, ICT Indicators, and digital innovation ecosystems.

Adel Mohamed Darwish, the recently appointed Director, Regional Office of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for the Arab States, covering 22 Arab countries, has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of telecommunications, spanning incumbent operator, startup operator, and regulator. In his different roles, Mr. Darwish has been involved with international relations, not only in the ITU, but also in organizations including ICANN, GSMA, the GCC Council, the League of Arab States, Arab Regulatory Network (AREGNET), and SAMENA Council.
Based in Bahrain, Mr. Darwish has held leadership positions in major conferences at the ITU and outside. He is known for his leadership of the GCC Council Roaming Working Group from 2009 to 2020, during which time the group achieved a major reduction in roaming rates in the region. Mr Darwish was also active in international bilateral projects and negotiations both within the Arab region and beyond.
Mr. Darwish, with the experience from both private and public sectors, is committed to strengthening regional ICT evolution as well as further enhancing the role of the ITU at the Arab regional level, coordinating globally with other regions. His vision is to help achieve an information society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunication/information and communication technologies enable and accelerate social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone

Mrs. Rhita BENOTMANE is an IT engineer. She is a graduate of the Institute of Post and telecommunications in Morocco, and  Telecom sudParis engineering school (INT Evry) in France. Rhita BENOTMANE has a 9-year career with the operator Maroc Telecom. She started her career in 2010, as Internet and DATA Mobile project manager, then held the position of manager of DATA platforms service within the Engineering and Deployment Department, until August 2019.

In September 2019, she joined the Agency of Digital Development (ADD), as head of strategy and monitoring unit.

Rich of 10 years’ experience in Telecoms and ICT, Rhita has multiple skills in agile management of technical and strategic projects.

Ms Manuson recently joined the Education Unit of the UNESCO Cairo Office as Programme Specialist. From 2019 to 2021, she was Assistant Director and Head of the Education, Youth and Sports Division of the ASEAN Secretariat. She held various roles in UNESCO’s Education sector from 2011 to 2019, serving in offices in Bangkok, Tehran and Amman. Ms Manuson has been involved in initiatives focused on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), non-formal education, lifelong learning, education systems strengthening and SDG4-Education 2030 coordination. Prior to joining UNESCO, Ms Manuson worked for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization.

Turhan Muluk joined Intel in 2006. He is representative of Intel at ITU-D Sector and working for Governments, Markets and Trade Group in EMEA Region.

Before joining to Intel, he worked 14 years for Turk Telekom on different wireless broadband projects including future wireless technologies. He also involved with ETSI, ITU, IEEE studies and worked as Vice Rapporteur at different ITU-D Questions. Turhan has also organized different joint activities together with ITU.

He was the chairman of WiMAX Forum for the Middle East and Africa. Turhan Muluk is graduated from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of the METU in Turkey and a member of IEEE.