The UAE Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority (TRA) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have signed an agreement to strengthening their collaboration in the field of telecommunications and Information and communications technology.

The MoU was signed by Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, the director general of TRA and Leong Keng Thai, the director general (Telecoms & Post) of IDA Singapore at the ITU Telecom World 2013 in Bangkok in the presence of Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information of Singapore and TRA board member Abdul Kader Al Kahyat.

As per the deal, both countries will promote closer co-operation and knowledge exchange pertaining to various aspects of international and regional ICT in the public and private sectors.
 
"The ICT sector in the emirates has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years and is widely recognized for its innovative contribution to the global technology arena. With their unwavering support, the UAE leadership has identified all efforts to advance ICT capacity as a national priority and boosting ties with global stakeholders at this point as part of this is essential," said Al Ghanim.

"Working alongside IDA Singapore will prove invaluable as both the UAE and Singapore look to develop their knowledge economies, cement their competitive position and align their ICT infrastructure to keep pace with the demands of the modern era," stated the top official.
 
The key areas of co-operation include proactive exchange of information relevant to eGovernment and ICT, co-guidance and co-consultation on preliminary processes related to future enhancements and joint research and analysis of information on new and existing technologies and developments of systems and tools.
 
This partnership will further promote knowledge sharing of ICT in government and economic sectors for trade, investment, business and technology ventures between UAE and Singapore’s industries, said Al Ghanim.
 
The co-ordination of Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network is one key area of ICT adoption between IDA and Singapore, he added.
 
In his comments, Leong Keng Thai said Singapore saw ICT as a strategic enabler for national competitiveness and its vision was to create a smart nation, powered by ICT.

"We look forward to exchanging knowledge and experience with our UAE counterparts in the field of ICT and e-government. This partnership of sharing good practices will further accelerate our respective country’s development of a knowledge-based economy through ICT," he added.-TradeArabia News Service