The Egyptian ministries of Communication and Culture, together with multinational IT titan IBM, have agreed to jointly develop a comprehensive website on Egyptian history and civilization in Arabic, English and French, reported Al Ahram Arabic daily on Tuesday.
Egyptian Minister of Communications Ahmed Nathif witnessed the signing of an agreement to implement the two-year project, which will cost 10 million pounds donated by IBM.
The project, which was announced for the first time during the recent visit of President Hosni Mubarak to the United States, comes within the framework of Egyptian-American cooperation in the field of information technology.
The agreement was signed by the secretary general of the Higher Council for Archeology, Jaballah Ali Jaballah, on behalf of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture; by the head of cultural and natural heritage center, Fathi Saleh, on behalf of the Ministry of Communications; and by the head of IBM in Egypt, Amr Tawfiq.
Tawfiq said IBM had donated 10 million pounds for the project in the form of equipment, software, applications, studies, research and development.
The project is based on the use of international state-of-the-art technology for designing and developing the site. It will utilize Egyptian expertise to provide the site content, and in managing the project to enable people throughout the world to see Egypt’s heritage including museums, temples and antiquities throughout history via the Internet. This is in addition to providing many links to a historical database on the exhibited antiquities.
Nathif said the project came as part of the ministry’s efforts to document Egypt’s cultural and natural heritage, and was intended to complement ministry work on the Egyptian museum and its creation of an archeological map of the country.
The project is also designed to enhance tourism.
“It is anticipated that the project, when completed, will be one of the world’s unique websites, and that it will be visited by everyone whose consciousness and thinking has any relation with Egypt’s civilizations and historical antiquities,” said the project organizers – Albawaba.com
