UAE Hands Over Chairmanship Of AREGNET To Bahrain

UAE hands over chairmanship of AREGNET to Bahrain

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 07th Oct, 2018) The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), represented by Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director-General, participated in the 16th Annual Meeting of the Arab Regulators Network of telecommunications and information technologies (AREGNET), which was held in Bahrain based on the decisions of the 15th AREGNET meeting, which was hosted by the UAE in Abu Dhabi in September 2017.

As the former president of the AREGNET, the UAE handed over to the Kingdom of Bahrain the presidency of the Arab Regulators Network 2018-2019, which includes all telecom regulators in the Arab countries under one umbrella.

The heads and representatives of Arab telecom regulators from several Arab countries participated in this annual meeting, namely; Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Djibouti, Sudan, Iraq, Comoros, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Mauritania.

In this respect, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director-General, said, "The UAE is always keen to activate the Arab action in ICT, believing in the importance of Arab integration and cooperation. During its presidency of AREGNET, the UAE made every effort to support other Arab countries in this field, where the UAE has established its humanitarian role drawn from the directives of our wise leadership, that the UAE should strengthen its presence in regional and international organizations, thereby serving the issues of sustainability, development and progress. Today, as the UAE hands over AREGNET presidency to Bahrain, it is fully aware that the handover is well-deserved and is fully confident that Bahrain will follow a successful course of action that seeks to exchange views and experiences in regulating the sector and harmonising regulatory practices in the Arab world through information sharing and seeking to unify these practices, and work to promote the development and modernization of ICT networks and services effectively, appropriately and competitively.

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He stressed that the importance of this meeting comes from being held a few weeks before the launch of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18), hosted by the UAE, he said, "During this meeting, we followed efforts to coordinate with the Arab countries in order to reach a joint Arab action plan that meets the aspirations of Arab societies. We discussed the contributions already adopted and the new contributions that could be included in AREGNET's action plan during the Plenipotentiary Conference. The UAE is keen to coordinate the positions of AREGNET members in order to adopt a unanimous view at this major world conference, thereby serving the ICT sector in the Arab world."

The establishment of AREGNET was announced on the occasion of the first symposium for regulators in the Arab region, which was held in Algiers in April, 2003, in the presence of representatives of regulatory bodies and departments and operators from 15 Arab countries.

The AREGNET includes regulators and departments responsible for regulating the ICT sector in the Arab region. Its main objectives are the exchange of experience on telecom regulation, coordination for the harmonization of regulatory practices in the Arab world, and the development of fair and transparent policies, organizational models and procedures to encourage the development and modernisation of ICT networks and services in the Arab World.

The AREGNET is also working to transform the Arab economy into a digital economy to increase productivity, promote ICT industrialization in the Arab world, and encourage Arab cooperation to implement modern methods in the management and control of scarce resources.