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UAE hosts
The 3rd Arab
Digital Content Forum
The forum discusses the reality and ambitions
of Arab content digitalization
The UAE is organizing the 3rd Arab Digital
Content Forum in Dubai during the period from
19 to 20 October 2015 under the theme “Arab
Content in the Era of Major Digital Transforma-
tions”. This Forum is organized in implementa-
tion of the decisions of the 16th session of the
Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunica-
tions and Information Technology, which was
held in Wahran, Algeria.
The forum consisting of 4 sessions discusses
the reality and ambitions of Arab digital content
industry and management, the Arab content in
the era of modern technology advancements
and contemporary prerequisites for the devel-
opment of Arab digital content.
The forum held with the support and collabo-
ration of the Arab League, ITU Arab Regional
Office, and the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Western Asia (ESC-
WA), aims to enhance Arab digital content, and
explore the possibilities of developing it based
on modern technologies and solutions.
“The Arab digital content serves as a major
test. On the one hand, it tests the extent of
attention given by Arab government and non-
government organizations concerned with cul-
tural identity. On the other hand, it tests the de-
velopmental and economic dimension related
to the concept of knowledge-based society and
economy,” said H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Man-
souri, TRA Director-General.
Al Mansouri said the Arab Digital Content fo-
rum is a suitable environment and platform
for relevant ideas, experiences and visions to
meet.
He pointed out that corporate and individual
efforts are exerted in full swing on the Arab
scene, but they would be more useful and valu-
able if they are more coordinated. This way,
experiences can be integrated to achieve the
goals that serve everyone. He stressed that the
UAE will seek, in this forum, to create a mecha-
nism for interaction, dialogue and exchange of
visions about relevant Arab experiences.
Dr. Noha Adly, First Deputy to the Minister of
Communications and Information Technology,
Egypt, said that free access to information and
knowledge is the right for all today. The world
today has become a small village thanks to the
ICT revolution. She added that everyone seeks
a meaningful and attractive content of all types
and forms, regardless of their language and
identity.
Adly called for embracing a single vision to ad-
vance the Arab digital content towards ongo-
ing positive development, thus advancing our
Arabic language and putting it in the lead, as
it deserves.
She said that it is about time for us to look at
Arab digital content from a comprehensive
perspective that seeks to achieve a positive
outcome and developmental impact. This can
be done through a promising industry that ful-
fills the ambitions of a knowledge economy.
She pointed out that our look to digital content
should not be limited to using ICT tools to doc-
ument heritage in order to preserve the Arab
cultural identity, and providing content in all its
forms only. This does not mean that this goal
is not desired or valuable. She also called for
creativity and innovation in the field of digital
content, as well as encouraging the industry,
and investment and job opportunities.
Eng. Ebrahim Al-Haddad, Director of the ITU
Arab Regional Office said: “Generating more
Arab digital content (in quantity and quality)
in a way that reflects on the development of
knowledge and information societies in our
Arab region depends on cooperation among all
relevant stakeholders”.
He said it is important to provide creative in-
dividuals and small and medium enterprises
with all the support they need, especially that
with the spread of modern technology such as
the Internet of Things (IoT), Arab digital con-
tent can be optimized if these opportunities are
properly used.
Dr. Haidar Fraihat, Director of Technology for
Development Division United Nations – ES-
CWA, said that the Arabic language has been
rich with linguistic, poetic and prose gems for
long ages. In our modern times, the Arabic lan-
guage has impressed the world in the cyber-
space. It grew 50 times more online, i.e. over
5000% until 2013, thus exceeding the growth
rate of other major languages such as Chinese,
English, Russian and Portuguese. Recent sta-
tistics also show that one third of Arabic speak-
ers use the Internet and over 20% of them use
the social media network Facebook.
He said that these advancements and achieve-
ments called for focus on the quality of online
Arab content, and quality of browsing. Online
Arab digital content currently suffers from many
issues, such as the redundancy of content, and
writing in spoken and slang dialects, which re-
duce the value and spread.
He deemed the objective and timing of this
forum as significantly adequate. The forum
sheds light on the importance of Arab digital
content and its positive impact on the knowl-
edge economy and information society. It
further highlights the role of youth in online
creativity and enriching the technology inven-
tory with applications, software and tools that
should enhance the Arab digital content online
in quantity and quality.
The first session is titled, “The Reality and Am-
bitions of the Arab Digital Content Industry and
Management”. The Arab region made big leaps
in its endeavor to build information societies
over the last ten years. This is evident in the
wide-scale launch of the ICT infrastructure, and
spread of wired and mobile devices in urban
and rural areas alike.
This spread has given users unprecedented
access to information, which had positive im-
pact on many sectors and the economy in its
entirety. Despite the recent significant increase
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