As part of the implementation of the ITU Arab Regional Initiatives adapted in the world Telecommunications Developments Conference in 2017 (WTDC-17), both the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) and the Arab Regional ITU Office in Cairo held the High Level Regional Meeting for Building Partnership with Academia in the Field of Cybersecurity, back-to-back with ASREN’s annual conference e-AGE18, 2-3 December 2018 at the Marriott Hotel Amman.
The meeting was conducted on 4 December 2018, with the attendance of 30 representatives of ITU members, decision makers of the Academia, Ministries of information and communications technologies, regulators, industry, and CIRTs in Arab Countries. One of the objectives for holding the meeting is to establish a partnership between academia sector and other ITU members in the Arab region in order to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs, and to shed light on the importance of creating academic professionals in cybersecurity in the Arab region.
Participants made several presentations and discussed the role of Academia in Enabling an Environment for Building Trust and Security in the Use of ICTs, Cultivating Research and Innovation in Cybersecurity, Challenges and Opportunities in the Arab Cybersecurity Landscape, The role of International Organizations in Emphasizing the Regional and Global Coordination in Cybersecurity.
The meeting was concluded with a roundtable discussions on Mechanism to Strengthen the Cooperation Amongst Academia Entities and Between Them and ITU. It was recommended to define mechanisms for developing a training awareness and develop professional training programs on building confidence in the use of ICTs and cybersecurity issues to bridge the shortage of skills in this area in the region and to create a support network of academic experts to help in the development and implementation of the cybersecurity initiative.
