The tremendous technological development must go in pair with the implementation of strong security tools on the technical level and the setting up of strong and flexible regulatory frameworks on the legal level being able to provide the required safety for the new forms of transactions on local, regional and international levels
Within this scope and given to its strong conviction that regional and international cooperation is crucial to keep up with the tremendous change and evolution in ICT sector and to face challenges, the Arab ICT Organization (AICTO) launched the project "Arab-African e-Certification Authorities Network" (AAECANET).
AAECANET is a Multistakeholder Network for e-trust in the Arab & African Regions having the specificity to be open internationally to all interested stakeholders. Its vision is “Better interregional collaboration on e-Trust for better trustworthy digital economies based on Laws Harmonization & Digital Trust services Interoperability”.
So far, within the scope of this project we have achieved many actions :
- 2 editions of the « Interregional PKI & e-Trust Forum » (Oman – 2017 – Tunisia 2019)
- Membership of 9 Countries
- 3 Specialized working groups
- Training sessions
- White Book “PKI roadmap”
- Study on the “reality and prospects for e-trust in the Arab and African regions”

http://etrustnet.org/

• Africa

AAECANET as described above is an open and flexible platform for an effective communication and fruitful cooperation between all involved parties. It is an open network for sharing global and regional experiences, activities, initiatives and best practices in matter of digital transactions and Digital trust services both on technical and legal frameworks. It aims at building an upward convergence framework to bring closer all stakeholders having the same vision and priorities towards securing digital cross-border transactions within a common and holistic framework.
The creation of a solid interregional framework for “Digital Trust” while encouraging digital services and cross-border digital transactions will be achieved through many mechanisms as:
- Providing the necessary support for the implementation of National e-certification Authorities in the Arab and African countries
- Coordinating efforts to develop common regulatory frameworks and policies in the field of electronic certification, e-signature and digital trust services
- Promoting collaboration between the e-certification authorities of the two regions to ensure the interoperability and the mutual recognition
- Establishing adequate cooperation with international organizations and consortia operating in the field of Public Key Infrastructure "PKI" and e-trust (Technical, legal and regulatory)
- Encouraging investors to be involved within this promising field, and the private companies to be members

AAECANET is a sustainable project in every sense of the word. It is a timeless project; it is launched to last as much as there is a will from all involved parties to continue the common work and to come up with updates and sustainable solutions for the future of the trustworthy digital services and economies. It will be sustainable through all actions and activities scheduled to reach its objectives.

Though its ambitious vision: “Better interregional collaboration on e-Trust for better trustworthy digital economies based on Laws Harmonization & Digital Trust services Interoperability”, AAECA-Net is seeking to build a “Foundation for trust” with three pillars : Sharing – Coordination – Convergence. All involved parties of this project are invited to be an active part of the goals’ achievement process. - SHARING : Global Sharing global experiences and best practices in matter of e-transactions and e-trust services both for technical and legal frameworks. - COORDINATION : Efforts and actions between all AAECA-Net members towards filling the technical and legal gaps from one hand and come up with global solutions from another hand - CONVERGENCE : Bringing closer all stakeholders having the same vision and ambitions in matter of enhancing e-trust in the world and encourage cross-borders e-transactions. Through these three principals, AAECA-Net is working along with WSIS goals and spreading its values while fostering them. It is basically coping with the recommendations of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS Geneva 2003 -Tunis 2005) related to the assistance and the supervision of the information society development at the globe, region and nations levels.