Note: You can Download Arabic version of final recommendations.

Under the patronage of His Excellency Eng. Basem Rousan / Minister of Information and Communications Technology and the attendance of Dr. Suhair Al Khateeb / Secretary General of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Prof. Mohammad Al Sabareni / President of Yarmouk University, Prof. Sulaiman Mustafa / Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology & Computer Sciences, and Dr. Emad Abuelrub / Secretary General of ACIT, the opening session for the Seventh International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT’2006) was inaugurated at 10:00 AM on December 19, 2006.

Prof. Sulaiman Mustafa / the Conference General Chair and Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology & Computer Sciences delivered the first opening speech in which he welcomed conference participants and guests. He also gave detailed information about the number of submitted and accepted papers as well as the number of countries participating in the conference. Also, he thanked the organizing committee for all the time they spent in preparing for the conference, the researchers who will be presenting their accepted papers, ACIT General Secretariat for all the support they provided, all organizations and companies who sponsored the conference, and Yarmouk University for its role in providing all the means for the success of this conference.
After that, Dr. Emad Abuelrub / ACIT Secretary General clarified the idea of this conference since it started seven years ago until this meeting and pointed out that ACIT is an international, scientific, refereed, and specialized conference in information technology that is held annually in one of the Arab universities. Then he added that ACIT is the official conference of the Colleges of Computers and Information Society, stemming from the Association of Arab Universities. It is supervised by an international steering committee, has a Technical Committee of 195 members from all over the world, and has a General Secretariat that is hosted by Zarqa Private University, Jordan. Finally, he concluded his speech by thanking Yarmouk University who hosted the conference, the steering committee, ACIT General Secretariat Council, and the organizing committee team at Yarmouk University who worked hard to make ACIT’2006 a reality.
Dr. Mohammad Al Sabareni / President of Yarmouk University delivered his speech, where he welcomed all participants, wishing them a pleasant and a happy stay in Jordan. Then he pointed out that this conference comes within a series of conferences that Yarmouk University is holding in different areas to promote scientific research in the region. He added that the university made major enhancements to enter the world of information technology and to contribute toward the knowledge economy. Also, the university recently enhanced its ICT infrastructure and its academic curriculums in addition to introduce new programs in e-learning and other disciplines. He concluded his speech by thanking Dr. Suhair Al Khateeb / the Secretary General of the ICT Ministry, the organizing committee, ACIT General Secretariat, and all organizations and companies who sponsored the conference.
The opening session was concluded by a speech from Dr. Suhair Al Khateeb / the Secretary General of the ICT Ministry, who welcomed all conference participants and pointed that scientific research is a major role in the new information society that is based on producing information and knowledge. She also added that this conference will contribute toward creating a scientific environment for researchers in Jordan and the importance of this conference toward the knowledge economy that Jordan is promoting in different areas. Dr. Al Khateeb pointed out that the Ministry of ICT recently finished its new initiative for the ICT sector in Jordan. She concluded her speech by thanking Yarmouk University and all its team who worked hard toward the success of this conference.

The sessions lasted for three days, December 19-21, 2006 as follows:

The First Day: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The Registration.
The opening session
A keynote lecture by Prof. Hans Borgman entitled:
"Getting IT Right: Seven Principles for Aligning IT Business Strategy in Uncertain World"
Three parallel sessions
Session A: Arabic Language Processing.
Session B: Computer Networks
Session C: IT, Society, and Ethics.

The Second Day: Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A keynote lecture by Prof. Daniel Everett entitled:
"Web Development and Globalization"
Three morning parallel sessions
Session A: AI and Machine Learning.
Session B: Database Systems.
Session C: Software Engineering.
Three after noon parallel sessions
Session A: AI and Machine Learning.
Session B: Internet and the Web.
Session C: Information Systems

The Third Day: Thursday, December 21, 2006

Three morning parallel sessions
Session A: Algorithms and Applications.
Session B: Parallel and Distributed Systems.
Session C: e-Commerce and e-Learning.
The closing session.

A visit to the ancient Roman city of Jarash 

The following meetings were held during the conference:
1- ACIT Steering Committee held its annual meeting that was chaired by the Secretary General / Dr. Emad Abuelrub and was attended by 16 members out of 19. The committee discussed the activities on its agenda and agreed for the Arab Academy for Science and Technology & Maritime Transport in cooperation with Tishreen University in Syria to be the host university for ACIT’2007.
2- The executive committee for the Colleges of Computers and Information Society, stemming from the Association of Arab Universities, held its annual meeting. The committee discussed many topics including how to activate the society in order to take its normal role in promoting ICT activities in the Arab region.
    Participants

Number of papers accepted was 84 papers from 23 different countries as shown in the table below. The number of submissions was 149 papers. 
1 Non-Arab Countries 19
2 Algeria 22
3 Jordan 15
4 Iraq 10
5 Palestine 7
6 Egypt 3
7 Bahrain 3
8 Tunisia 1
9 Yemen 1
10 Oman 1
11 Lebanon 1
12 Libya 1

Submitted papers: 149
Accepted papers: 84
Published: 58
Percentage for published papers: 38%

Conclusions and Recommendations

• The conference continues in achieving its goal in attracting researchers from 23 different countries.
• The papers presented in the conference reflected Arab researchers' creativity and ability to conduct competitive research in information technology.
• It was agreed to open all proper channels to encourage the private sector to sponsor applied scientific research.
• Encouraging all local and international companies to participate in information technology exhibitions that will be held on the sideline of ACIT meetings in the future.
• Encouraging public and private sectors to increase financial support offered for conferences and scientific seminars, which are considered as the best field for exchanging scientific experience.
• Allocating special funds for supporting scientific research projects that is concerned about ICT in the Arab region.
  The importance of encouraging all Arab universities to participate in the support of the International Arab Conference on
• Information Technology (ACIT) and to subscribe in the International Arab Journal of Information Technology (IAJIT), the official scientific conference and journal of the Colleges of Computers and Information Society, stemming from the Association of Arab Universities.

At the end of the conference, the Arab Academy for Science and Technology & Maritime Transport in cooperation with Tishreen University in Syria was declared as the host for the 8th meeting of the conference (ACIT’2007) that will be held in December 2007. Other universities who submitted applications to host ACIT’2007 are Mansorah University in Egypt and Zarqa Private University in Jordan.
 
The conference participants concluded the closing session by sending a thank you cable to His Excellency Eng. Basim Al Rosan / Minister of Information and Communications Technology. Another thank you cable was also sent to Prof. Mohammad Al Sabareni / President of Yarmouk University expressing all their thanks and appreciation for all the support that made this conference a successful one. The participants are also pleased to express their thanks to Prof. Sulaiman Mustafa / the Conference General Chair and Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology & Computer Sciences, Prof. Najib Al Kofahi / Vice Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology & Computer Sciences and Conference General Vice Chair, Mr. Osama Abu Abbas / Conference Secretary, and all members of the organizing committee who worked hard to make this conference a reality.

Final Recommendations Committee,
December 21, 2006