State, Egyptian tech officials meet to improve U.S.-Muslim ties

A delegation of Egyptian government officials that included the country's head of information technology met with U.S. policymakers during two days this week to discuss plans for building business ventures in both countries through online collaboration.

"We recognize the importance of leveraging information technology to maximize our outreach and effectiveness," Philip L. Verveer, the State Department's coordinator for international communications and information policy, said at a lunch in Washington on Tuesday. The Obama administration recently launched the Kansas to Cairo concept, which is "intended to catalyze and expand partnerships that enable young Americans to communicate with Muslims around the world using a variety of technologies."

Tarek Kamel, head of Egypt's Communications and Information Technology Ministry, also attended the lunch. His appearance signaled a continuation of efforts to improve U.S. ties with the Middle East, following a landmark speech President Obama gave in Cairo in June 2009, where he called for a new beginning in the often tense relationship between Americans and Muslims worldwide.

Since then, the U.S. government has invested in online networks that allow students in the Midwest to learn from students in Muslim regions and has teamed with countries where Muslims are in the majority to digitize government records. On June 7, the State Department allocated $1.5 million to establish a digital science library in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The library "would bring tens of thousands of science publications to hundreds of thousands of researchers and young scientists," Verveer said on Tuesday.

Kamel traveled to the United States last year to discuss Internet governance, online safety for children and technological innovation.

Egypt's IT ministry was established in 1999 to expand the country's mobile communications market and ensure all citizens have access to the Internet. In 2009, trade between the United States and Egypt totaled $7.3 billion, according to Verveer. American-owned businesses have created 1 million jobs in Egypt, he said.

To encourage international relationships, Kamel travels on official missions, including trips to the Far East, Ethiopia and the one to Washington this week, according to the ministry's website.

Federal IT experts said they were not aware the United States and Egypt were working together on government technological innovation.

One federal IT market analyst said terrorism concerns could become a point of contention when the United States tries to partner with foreign countries on IT systems. The U.S. government prohibits the export of certain IT equipment to countries such as Egypt and Lebanon, which are believed to support terrorism or contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The fear is that the technology can be used to develop weapons.

There have been concerns about "misapplication of highly critical technologies that could thwart U.S defenses," said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources, a market research firm.

Representatives for the Egyptian government declined to comment.