Under the patronage of His Excellency the President of the Republic. The launch of the summit and exhibition ”World of Artificial Intelligence - AI Everything Middle East and Africa”
Eng. Rafat Hindi, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stressed that Egypt's hosting of the first regional summit of the "AI World of Artificial Intelligence" reflects Egypt's keenness to be the regional platform for innovation, investment and talent development for the transformation based on artificial intelligence; explaining the efforts of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in developing a range of national applications that rely on artificial intelligence technologies in a number of fields including early detection of diseases, education, machine translation, support for government services, and converting sound into written text.
This came in the speech of Eng. Rafat Hindi, delivered on his behalf by Eng. Ahmed Al-Zaher, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Authority (ITIDA), during the opening of the “AI Everything Middle East and Africa” Summit and Exhibition, hosted by Egypt under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, organized by the GITEX Global Network, and in strategic partnership with the Information Technology Industry Development Authority (ITIDA).
The AI Everything Middle East and Africa Summit and Exhibition will be held on February 11-12 at the Egypt International Exhibition Center with the participation of a group of decision-makers, leaders of international technology companies, and more than 100 investors, experts, specialists and entrepreneurs from more than 30 countries.
The summit represents a strategic platform for exchanging experiences, exploring investment opportunities and strengthening international partnerships in the field of advanced technology. It is the most prominent global technical event in the Middle East and Africa. It is also the first global event fully specialized in artificial intelligence to be held this year.
Engineer Rafat Hindi explained that in digital Egypt, artificial intelligence is not treated as a technology in isolation from others, but as a national ability to achieve impact, starting from the public interest, responding to societal needs, and in line with development priorities; He added that this approach is provided through an integrated multi-axed framework, where each axis represents a practical dimension of how artificial intelligence moves from infrastructure to meaning, to the real value in people's lives, pointing out that the first axis: "Intelligence", aims to build national capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence, through the development of models that understand the Arabic language, the nature of national institutions, and the Egyptian cultural context. Announcing the launch of a huge national language model as part of the public digital infrastructure, the "Crank" model, which is the highest Arab language model ranked in the 30–40 category, and 70-80 billion parameters, to form a basis that provides wider opportunities for startups and the private sector to build applications using artificial intelligence that meet the needs of Egyptian society.
He added that the second axis: meaning, is based on the use of artificial intelligence in applications that start from the needs of society, not from the technology itself. Announcing the launch of the first version of the two leading national applications based on the "Crank" model, namely: "Sia": a personal smart teacher to support students and teachers in the courses of the Arabic language and Egyptian history at the secondary level, and the second is a smart assistant for legal and regulatory guidance, to help citizens and small companies understand regulatory frameworks; explaining that the third axis is governance in public services by integrating artificial intelligence technologies into the Egypt's digital services platform; referring to the AcQua application, which relies on natural language processing technologies to review all calls of the call center for Egypt's digital services, and monitor any inaccurate information or unprofesional practices, in addition to launching the REACT application as an assistant Smart based on language models to support customer service center employees.
He stated that the fourth axis: Access; focuses on expanding access to health care services, through the development of artificial intelligence engines developed by Egyptian engineers for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy, edema or macular, which are diseases that affect the eye as a result of diabetes, and breast cancer, where these models are trained on local data; pointing out cooperation with the United Nations Development Program to provide solutions and transfer these experiences to Arab and African countries through the AI-Share initiative.
He stressed that the fifth axis: Capabilities aims to make artificial intelligence a practical force for the citizen and the state, announcing the launch of the "Traman" application for machine translation, and the application of "Balmasri", a system that understands the Egyptian colloquial dialect and performs a number of tasks, namely converting sound into written text, translating and converting written text into voice, as national capabilities that contribute to improving access to information, and enhancing the efficiency and transparency of government institutions.
He added that the sixth axis: competencies focuses on investing in building human competencies across various levels, starting from basic digital skills, through advanced artificial intelligence engineering, to specialized sectoral expertise. We announcing the launch of a language-based language-based application to support English language learning, empower the Egyptian workforce, and open new employment paths in the private sector and the growing outsourcing industry.
Engineer Rafat Hindi stressed that this approach turns artificial intelligence into a real value in digital Egypt, adding that the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence is the result of years of continuous work between the public and private sectors, which resulted in the progress of Egypt's ranking of 60 places in the Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index; Pointing to Egypt's role in formulating Arab and African strategies for artificial intelligence, stressing that holding the first regional summit on artificial intelligence in Cairo came as a result of the Egyptian leading role at the Arab and African levels.
Engineer Rafat Hindi explained that artificial intelligence stands today in the same historical extension of technologies that have redrawn the fate of nations and changed the course of the global economy, but it is characterized by unprecedented speed and spread; pointing to the global debate that raises a number of fundamental questions about how to employ artificial intelligence in a way that achieves prosperity without compromising the essence of human creativity, within governance frameworks that ensure the justice of benefit and an active role for countries; Explaining that through this summit, it is emphasized that the Middle East and Africa region will not be just a present party in the path of the development of artificial intelligence, but an effective partner in shaping, guidance and leadership.
Engineer Rafat Hindi pointed out that the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, since its launch in 2019, has reflected the state's conviction that artificial intelligence is the cornerstone in the construction of "digital Egypt". He added that with the launch of the second phase of the strategy (2025–2030), artificial intelligence is integrated into the core of the national economy through a number of vital sectors, including health, agriculture, education, justice, and government services; pointing out that the strategic approach adopted by the state from the beginning is based on a clear vision, based on the use of artificial intelligence for both the public good, development, the labor market, and government services. All this within the framework of ethical and responsible governance.
He concluded his speech by stressing that with the launch of the AI Everything Summit, Egypt realizes that artificial intelligence will affect various walks of life, pose challenges, and make changes, calling through this summit in Egypt to employ artificial intelligence to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for humanity.
For her part, Ms. Trixie Le Mermand, CEO of inD (the global regulator of GITEX, said: “Artificial intelligence represents the fastest industrial transformation of our time, and speed has become the new currency of power. Who moves first and can crowd on a large scale and at an accelerated pace is the one who will determine the features of the next phase. Egypt today is strongly present in this scene. We are not just witnessing the opening of an AI exhibition, but the beginning of a new era for Egypt and the entire region, where ambitions, capabilities and momentum to reshape the future converge.”
The exhibition includes more than 350 specialized and emerging companies in artificial intelligence from around the world. It is one of the largest clusters of startups and investors, to promote global technology partnerships, attract investments, and highlight Cairo's role as a major center for innovation in the field of artificial intelligence in the Middle East and Africa.
The companies participating in the exhibition will review a number of advanced applications and solutions in the fields of government services, healthcare, financial technology, cybersecurity, smart cities, digital infrastructure, and a range of artificial intelligence models that support the Arabic language and the needs of the Middle East and Africa markets.
It is worth mentioning that the "AI Everything Middle East and Africa" summit and exhibition is an extension of the GITEX global series of events held in a number of countries with the aim of supporting the digital transformation process and promoting innovation.
Egypt's hosting of the events of this global event comes within the framework of efforts to support the implementation of the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2025–2030 and enhance Egypt's position as a regional center for innovation and advanced technologies. It reflects the strategic orientation of the Egyptian state towards employing artificial intelligence as one of the main drivers of economic development, enhancing industrial competitiveness, attracting foreign investments, supporting digital transformation efforts and building a knowledge-based economy.
The program of the exhibition and conference reflects the maturity and diversity of the artificial intelligence system in Egypt, as its agenda is full of activities designed to support local capabilities, highlight innovation, and accelerate the growth of companies operating in this field. This includes organizing the AI MEA Supernova competition dedicated to startups, and reviewing a group of Egyptian companies working in artificial intelligence at different stages of growth, reflecting the depth and diversity of the local system.
The event also includes advanced hands-on training programs through the Artificial Intelligence Academy, including AWS-accredited training and certifications in the fields of AI, large language models, and data protection, along with the organization of an artificial intelligence hackathon sponsored by Capgemini, highlighting the real economic impact of smart applications in vital sectors such as tourism. These events are integrated with networking sessions and knowledge-sharing workshops on expansion strategies, alternative financing models, and growing investment opportunities in the AI ecosystem in Africa, making the event an integrated platform for learning, collaboration and growth.
The opening events were attended by Mr. Ahmed Salem Abda, Minister of Digital Transformation and Modernization of the Administration in Mauritania, a number of leaders of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, ambassadors of a number of countries, officials from the public and private sectors, and experts from more than 30 countries.
