Bucharest, September 28 (QNA) - The Regional Representative and Director of he Regional Office of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for the Arab States Adel Mohamed Darwish said that the State of Qatar's hosting the major sporting tournament in the world "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022" for the first time in the Middle East and Arab countries, is an evidence of the evolution the State of Qatar had made during the past years, particularly with respect to infrastructure projects in the state.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the sidelines of his participation in the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) which is currently being convened in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Adel Mohamed Darwish wished for the success of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, specially that it will reflect on the entire Arab region, which maximizes the opportunity of attracting such global events to the region in the future, pointing out that the State of Qatar has established the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) with the objective of implementing the essential infrastructure projects to host an impressive historical edition of tournament, setting the plans and carrying out the operational works to contribute to accelerating the pace of development, achieving the state's development goals and leaving a permanent legacy for Qatar, Middle East, Asia and the whole world.
He stressed that the sports stadiums and other sports facilities, including the infrastructure projects which SC oversees their implementation in collaboration with its partners, contribute to hosting a close and interconnected tournament that primarily focuses on the sustainability concept and the easy comprehensive accessibility, specially after the end of the tournament, where these stadiums and their vicinities will be transformed into societal vibrant centers forming one of the legacy pillars for the benefits of posterity, pointing out that the infrastructure that has been inaugurated comprised the communication and information technology to make sure that the best and state-of-the-art technologies are offered in order to contribute to the success of this gargantuan task.
He also emphasized that the communication sector in Qatar remained one of the pioneer sectors in the world, which is attracting the investments of mega enterprises in this area, the last one was the launch of the first global cloud data center region by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in partnership with Microsoft Corporation which would open new prospects in this field and maximizes the national income from the communication sector.
The Regional Representative and Director of he Regional Office of ITU said that the evolution in the communication and information technology sector is in alignment with the evolution the Arab region is witnessing in general, adding that during the few previous years the Arab region has been witnessing a major increase in the number of persons communicating with the internet, in addition to an evolution in the communication sector, as well as an increase in the investments whether nationally or regionally in this field.
With regard to the challenges facing the communication sector in the Arab world, Darwish clarified that despite the remarkable evolution in the communication sector, however, the major challenge that should be countered entails bridging the digital gap, because there is a roughly %30 of persons who are disconnected from the internet in the Arab region, indicating that such percentage incrementally increases in the least developing countries, rural areas, and even in some segments of the community such as persons with disabilities, noting that the World Telecommunication Development Conference that was organized by ITU last June under the banner: "Connecting the unconnected to achieve sustainable development", builds five initiatives for the Arab region that will be implemented by the entire stakeholders in the upcoming four years which are the key priorities for the development of communication and information technology sector in the Arab region, and are essentially fixated on supporting the regional cooperation, attracting investments, maximizing the development impact in a myriad of areas such as digital economy, digital innovation, cybersecurity, smart cities and digital regulations.
In his statement about the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) currently being convened in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Darwish pointed out that the event is the major and biggest conference in ITU, because the conference sets the strategic and financial plan for ITU in the upcoming four years, in addition to co-opting those who will potentially lead ITU in the upcoming years, adding that the conference adopts decisions, including a plethora of topics that manifestly affect the operation of ITU in the whole world, including the Arab region that candidly affirm the joint positions among ITU member states worldwide. (QNA)