DAY ONE: Thursday, 29 April 2004
SETTING THE STAGE

10:30 – 11:30 Opening and welcome

• Opening remarks: ESCWA Ahmed Farahat

• Opening remarks: Kaiser Associates Thomas Farole

• Round table context and objectives Mervat Tallawy

• The development-oriented information society: A visionary talk Ismail S. Abdallah

Interactive Q&A

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee break

12:00 – 14:00 Information and Communication Technology as Development Enabler (1)

Chair: Abdulla Mansoor

• ICT as an Enabler for Trade and Transport Development Thomas Farole

• Investing in the ICT sector in the ESCWA region:
  The experience of the Islamic Corporation Ali Soliman

• ESCWA experience in trade facilitation Nabil Safwat

• The case of integrated transport Coll Hunter

• Review of EDI-based trade and transport operations Niels Rasmussen

Interactive Q & A

14:00 – 15:00 Lunch break

15:00 – 16:30 Information and Communication Technology as Development Enabler (2)

Chair: Ali Soliman

• The socioeconomic environment for ICT assimilation:
  Regional impediments Essam Galal

• ICT for poverty reduction and employment creation in
  Western Asia Wajdi Matar

• Knowledge-based industry development in Oman Ahmed Al Dheeb
  ICT applications in the Ministry of Finance of Egypt Mamdouh Shoaib

Interactive Q & A

16:30 – 16:45 Coffee break

16:45 – 18:30 CyberPorts as regional hubs for development

Chair: Hussein Rifai

• The Dube TradePort CyberPort Mazen Khoury

• Evolving from "e" to "see" in the Web age Jacques Ekmekji

• Public/Private ICT Services  Radwan Habli

• E-commerce in Lebanon Alain Jean

• Empowering e-business in Egypt: Facing the challenges Sherif Hashem

• E-government Experience in Bahrain Eva Hassan

Interactive Q & A

DAY TWO Friday, 30 April 2004
FORGING A REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE
Round table discussions and interventions around key elements of the partnership

08:30 – 10:30 Main orientation and thrust areas
Chairperson: Mamdouh Shoaib
Moderator: Mazen Khoury
Roundtable discussions

10:30 – 10:45 Coffee break

10:45 – 12:30 Constituting components
Chairperson: Mohammad Ben Khalifa Ben Ali Aal Khalifa
Moderator: Sherif Hashem
Roundtable discussions

12:30 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 16:30 Viability
Chairperson: Charbel Fakhoury
Moderator: Coll Hunter
Roundtable discussions

16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break

17:00 – 17:30 The Road Ahead and Closing