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Honored
guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is with
great pleasure that I share with you tonight the vision of the
Government of Lebanon towards the realization of a national
knowledge-based economy. I will discuss the current status of
the enabling building blocks for such an economy and the
projected road ahead for their advancement while staying in
tune with global developments on the knowledge-based frontier.
The developed
countries began experiencing the so-called ‘third industrial’
or knowledge-based revolution – the dawn of the information
age - at the end of the 20th century. However, we,
in Lebanon were seeing the products of the ‘second
industrial’ revolution in the form of systematically
researched and developed advanced weaponry being put to the
test on our land and people! With the end of the war and
hostilities period, the Government of Lebanon faced a number
of challenges that had to be addressed quickly to allow the
country to restore its national economy and rebuild its
infrastructure. Having depended prior to the war on key
service sectors such as tourism, trade and banking, it became
apparent after the war that more modern means of offering such
services were badly needed to help rebuild and stabilize the
national economy.
Given the
evolution of the information age, from local to national to
global levels, the natural choice was to resort to the basic
building blocks of the information age i.e. information and
communications technologies (or ICTs) as (1) facilitators for
this modernization process and (2) enablers of new
knowledge-based industries to be developed to support the
national economy and foster new areas of growth. Within this
context, the Government of Lebanon embarked on various
national projects geared towards the widespread deployment of
ICT, protecting its use through proper legislation and
standardization, showcasing its benefits through pilot
activities, institutionalizing the needed reforms for its
optimal use in support of services in both the public and
private sectors, and creating the needed environment and
incentives to foster its growth for the creation of vibrant
knowledge-based industries for national and regional
consumption.
What has been
achieved in this regard – the current situation?
The ICT
Infrastructure:
In the mid
1990s, a massive infrastructure project was launched with the
objective to provide the country with sufficient fiber optic
and microwave connections for transporting multimedia assets
(data, voice and video) over a range of protocols (ATM, Frame
Relay, ..etc.). Today, this project has lead to the
availability of such high bandwidth capacity in major cities
along the Lebanese coast, excluding unfortunately the South,
in addition to some inner cities such as Zahle. This has
allowed more efficient delivery of Banking and financial
services and modernizing our payments system. In addition,
satellite communication links are available through a main
gateway located inland, with a number of Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) having their individual satellite antennas.
The available
ICT infrastructure has been able to support a relatively large
number of ISPs– around 17 - with a total subscription base
of some 100,000 to 150,000 users that pay current monthly
unlimited Internet access rates ranging between $10 and $19.
Certainly, a record low price for a developing country –
these figures match current US Internet access fees. Despite
these low fees, the monthly recurring fees for available
direct communication links (64k to 2Mbps) remain somewhat
high; they are currently being assessed for reductions or
change in pricing formulas.
Legislation
and Standards:
‘Knowledge
is power’ or at least, a means to power. Yet to preserve
such intellectual capital, one needs legislation. To address
this, the Government of Lebanon became one of the first Arab
countries to pass a modern law for the protection of
Intellectual Property Rights in June 1999, covering all types
and forms of multimedia assets. This move has encouraged a
number of multinational companies such as Microsoft and
Ericsson to open offices in the country, and is encouraging
other companies to invest and establish themselves in Lebanon,
benefiting from our liberal rights of establishment laws. We
have recently sent a modern Patents law to Parliament that
will provide strong incentives for the development and
establishment of industries, such as pharmaceuticals, that are
dependent on patent protection.
On the level
of standardization, the Lebanese agency for norms and
standards, LIBNOR, which is under the auspices of the Ministry
of Industry, has taken a leading role in putting various ICT
standards in place. Standards committees for systems and
communications hardware and software are working to insure
that relevant ICT deployments throughout the country meet
and/or follow a certain standard.
Pilot ICT /
knowledge-based projects:
To showcase
the offerings of ICT in a knowledge-based working environment,
the Government of Lebanon began work on 3 distinct pilot
projects:
SchoolNet:
this project involves interconnecting some 24 schools (1 PC at
each school) throughout the 6 mouhafazats (or districts) of
Lebanon via a central server located at the Ministry of
National Education, which in turn is directly connected to the
global Internet. The main focus of this project is to
highlight online education communication and collaboration, in
light of the new computer curriculum introduced by the
Ministry, by making use of audiovisual conferencing facilities
and various online multilingual references and encyclopedias.
Distance learning, remote library access and customized
courseware are but some of the showcasing deliverables
expected from this pilot.
GovNet:
this undertaking involves interconnecting some 30 government
offices to one another and to 2 main government hubs to
facilitate e-government services for the government itself
(internal communications and transactions) and for the general
public (various application forms, inquiries, registrations,
general information, ...etc.). Increased productivity,
accountability and improved services are the main outputs to
be highlighted from this effort.
Trade
Information System (TIS):
this pilot effort focuses on trade facilitation and provides
an online environment between the government agencies involved
in the trade (import and export) process, namely the ports of
entry/exit, Ministry of Finance (Customs) and Ministry of
Economy and Trade. Using state-of-the-art standards and
protocols such as EDI, XML, SET, SSL and others, this pilot
will illustrate expeditious processing of trade transactions
and related payments for the increased efficiency of the trade
sector-goods will be cleared quickly and government tariffs
will be collected promptly. An online harmonized commercial
coding system will also be part of this pilot project.
Given the
wealth of knowledge and talent available in this room tonight,
I hope you will accept my invitation to participate in the
execution of these projects.
Institutionalizing
the needed reforms:
I will use
the trade information system as an example to illustrate why a
number of reforms are needed for optimal use of ICT. For each
of the government offices involved in the trade clearance
process, a great deal of paperwork filled with numerous
signatures (at time 5 to 6 per form) is needed. If one were to
automate this process with ICT, such paperwork and signatures
would no longer be needed. However, a number of reform
measures have to be legally enacted so as to avoid violation
of existing laws and regulations. New legislation as relates
to digital signatures and certificate authentication is needed
so as to allow these online stamps to replace the customary
signatures.
This example
is but one of many that require institutionalization of
simplified procedures in the public and private sectors, a
process that is currently underway with the full support of
the Government. Within the next two months I will be proposing
a law for e-Commerce, digital signatures and authentication.
Creating the
needed environment:
To provide
the needed environment for creating knowledge-based industries
and in line with international best practices, the Government
of Lebanon has started worked on 2 main projects. One project
focuses on a feasibility study for the creation of a so called
‘Beirut Emerging Technology Zone (BETZ)’ - a technology
park area where local ICT entrepreneurs can either
independently or in alliance with international organizations
setup offices and further their R&D efforts for the
creation of new or value-added ICT products or services. This
effort is being funded by a grant from the US Trade and
Development Agency (USTDA) and will have as its main output a
blueprint for setting up such a zone and the benefits to be
realized from it.
The other
more recent project is the drafting of a law for establishing
a ‘Media and ICT Free Zone’ which would be run as an
independent agency through a public and private sector
partnership having various tax, regulatory, and infrastructure
incentives to attract various media and ICT companies from all
over the world to setup hubs or regional centers in the zone.
Under the law being drafted, the ‘Media and ICT Free Zone’
could even house a technology park such as BETZ as well as
others that have a different focus (call centers, internet
superhubs, software incubators, …etc.).Two private sector
technology park initiatives worthy of mention here are the
Roger Edde Byblos Global Village near Jbeil on the Lebanese
coast and the Makse Industrial park in the Bekaa Valley.
The National
ICT Committee – bringing the national projects together:
Given the
diversity of efforts mentioned and the paramount need to
coordinate for coherent fulfillment of these undertakings and
their objectives, the Government of Lebanon has formed a
National ICT Committee, headed by the Minister of Economy and
Trade and Industry, and with membership from both the public
and private sectors (covering business practices and
academia). Supporting this committee are seven ICT advisory
committees focusing on such key areas as national awareness,
infrastructure and security, online banking and electronic
payments, education, services for the citizen, legislation,
and standards and norms.
The National
ICT Committee is currently putting together with the
assistance of international experts a business plan for ICT
development in Lebanon. As envisaged, this plan will expand
upon the current achievements on the ICT and propose
additional work that will further the outreach of ICT
development for the betterment of the Lebanese society as a
whole.
What are we
going from here – prospects for the future?
Having stated
in brief the current achievements towards the realization of a
knowledge-based economy, I move on now to what I anticipate to
be key developments in this direction in the future.
The ICT
Infrastructure:
With the full
commitment of the Government of Lebanon to privatize the
telecommunications sector, the available ICT infrastructure is
certainly to improve. With more competition comes a more
diverse array of cost-effective communications services. I
anticipate seeing communication service providers offering
hybrid solutions coupling land-based fiber optics, with
microwave wireless, with satellite zone beam coverage, and
hence being able to provide coverage all over the relatively
mountainous terrain of Lebanon. This infrastructure outreach
will truly constitute a solid National Information
Infrastructure that will help in bridging the digital divide
when combined with the proper education.
Legislation
and Standards:
Work
one-commerce, digital signature, certificate authentication,
and online privacy legislation will be initiated and completed
in the near future. Other legislation relating to e-banking
and online payments will also be realized to help promote
e-business, e-services and e-commerce projects.
On the
standardization front, work will also progress to cover
standards for the new entries in the ICT realm and upgrade the
already established standards accordingly.
National ICT
(or e-) projects:
The ShoolNet,
GovNet, and TIS pilot projects will be further developed to be
full-fledged e-projects. Furthermore, SchoolNet will most
likely be linked up with a National Scientific Research
Network (NSRNet) that interconnects national universities and
institutes. These national networks will in turn be connected
to similar regional country networks to form Intranets that
share common cultures and so on.
GovNet, TIS
and other government-centric projects will be further
developed to form part of an e-government services system,
with one-stop-shop portals allowing citizens on a local as
well as international level (ex-patriots) to access and
process the required information and applications,
respectively. Tax filing, requests for birth records, and
civil status records are but a few examples in this respect.
Institutionalizing
the needed reforms:
With time,
most, if not all, of the public sector procedures will be
reinvented or simplified to facilitate optimal use of ICT
solutions. With such solutions in place and with a civil
service properly trained on their use, true productivity and
accountability will be realized. Also, with such solutions in
place, knowledge management applications can be developed and
deployed to further assist in the decision support process.
Creating the
needed environment:
Beyond the
realization of technology parks or zones, a more collaborative
atmosphere will be created between the academic and research
environments in higher education on one side and the existing
or newly start-up Media or ICT companies on the other. This
collaborative effort, whether through internships, coop
programs, transfer of technology agreements, or sponsored
research activities will undoubtedly foster more robust ICT
development on the national level – right ideas can be
prototyped and tested at the right time, in hopes of
addressing a niche market. Setting up entrepreneurship
programs and cash award competitions as at MIT, will add to
this level of collaborative and effective business planning.
Networking with other international entrepreneurship centers
and effectively exchanging ideas will also help in creating
the needed environment for local ICT creativity and launching
of businesses.
ICT Workforce
– leveraging the Lebanese know-how:
By realizing
most of the anticipated future developments towards achieving
knowledge-based industries, a side benefit would be the
reduction in the brain drain of capable national ICT graduates
or seasoned experts to other countries. With the availability
of what is needed to develop knowledge-based industries, the
market demand and compensation for needed staff will
ultimately increase to reach levels comparable to other
international countries and hence the incentives for leaving
would not be there. And to the contrary, the ex-patriots
abroad will start to think about coming back and contributing
towards realizing sustainable knowledge-based industries.
As clearly
evident by the number of Lebanese that have attained advanced
degrees from world renowned institutions like MIT, Harvard,
Stanford, and Caltech, and that currently hold high level
management positions in global ICT companies such as
Microsoft, Compaq and Hewlett Packard, Lebanon has a wealth of
know-how that can truly succeed in fostering a knowledge-based
economy.
In closing, I
hope that I have succeeded in conveying to you the direction
Lebanon is heading in towards the realization of a
knowledge-based economy. I look forward to exploring possible
opportunities for cooperation between our government and your
distinguished group. I hope that you will join me in helping
Lebanon to be on the edge of the frontiers of today’s
knowledge-based economy.
Thank You! |
