The Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Egypt, Raafat Hendy has held high-level talks with Naim Yazbeck, President of Microsoft Middle East and Africa, to explore deeper cooperation in artificial intelligence and digital capacity building.
The meeting, which brought together senior officials from Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Microsoft Egypt, focused on advancing joint efforts to support the country’s digital transformation agenda.
Hendy reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to adopting emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, highlighting the implementation of the second edition of the National AI Strategy as a key priority. He noted that the strategy aims to position AI as a central driver of economic competitiveness and public sector innovation.
The minister emphasized the importance of partnerships with global technology firms to facilitate knowledge transfer and build local expertise. He said such collaboration would strengthen the capacity of national professionals, enhance service delivery, and support the integration of AI into government operations.
Discussions also covered ongoing initiatives under a memorandum of understanding between MCIT and Microsoft Egypt, which includes plans to train approximately 100,000 young people, IT professionals, and government employees in AI technologies. The programme incorporates training-of-trainers models, tailored learning tracks, and hands-on technical instruction.
Both parties agreed to expand cooperation through specialized training programmes aimed at supporting startups and strengthening digital skills within government institutions. Plans are also underway to develop targeted capacity-building initiatives for selected public sector entities, supported by a detailed implementation framework.
The meeting further explored collaboration between Microsoft and the Ministry’s Applied Innovation Center to enhance the integration of “Karnak,” an Arabic large language model, with locally hosted cloud infrastructure in Egypt.
Officials said the partnership would play a key role in accelerating the adoption of AI-driven solutions, improving access to digital services, and advancing Egypt’s broader digital transformation objectives
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