Under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Energy Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah/ Head of Qatar Petrol Adminstrative Board and the attendance of President of Qatar University/ Dr. Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-khalifi, the opening session for The International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT'2002) was inaugurated at 9.00 AM on 16/12/2002. Many diplomates in Qatar, ACIT’s Secretary General/ Professor Mohammed Al-Haj Hasan, Dr. Abdul Hamid Sadiq/ Conference General Chair, and more than 400 guests including specialists, participants, and researchers attended this session. Opening ceremony started with recitation of Holy Quran followed by the following opening speeches.
Minister of Indurstry and Energy and Head of Qater Petrol Adminstrative Board/ Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah gave the first opening speech in which he welcomed conference participants and guests. He also stressed the importance of recommendations of His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani/ The Prince of Qatar regarding technological illiteracy. His Excellency also praised the unique topics that are discussed in this conference. He also pointed out that Qatar University decided to make the computer skills course a university requirement course regardless of students’ specialization. He concluded his speech wishing all success for participants and the conferecne.
Dr. Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Khalify/ President of Qatar University gave a speech in which he welcomed His Excellency Abdulla Bin Hamad Atiyyah, under whose patronage the conference is held and all participants at the conference. He expressed his thanks for all individuals and institutions who contributed to the conference and the achievements of what His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani the Chief President for the University he added that. His Highness in more than one occasion stressed the necessity of the university being opend to all institutions in the country and the Arab World. He praised the contributions of Qatar oil companies in supporting various activities at the university, students’ training, and sponsoring research, studies and consultations. He concluded his speech welcoming guests and participants wishing all a pleasant stay in Qatar and success for the conference.
Proffessor Mohammed Al-Haj Hassan/ ACIT’s Secretary General gave a thanking speech for His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah/ Minster of Industry and Energy and Head of Qatar Petrol Administrative Board, Dr. Abdullah Al-Khalifi/ President of Qatar University, and Dr. Abdul Hameed Sadiq/ Conference General Chair. Proffessor Al-Haj Hassan extended his thanks to Qatar University for hosting the third meeting of the conference. He welcomed all Arab and foreign participants as well as all organizing committees. He clarified the idea of this scientific refereed conference that is specialized in computing and information technology. It is an international conference that has Arab patronage since it is held annually in one of the Arab universities. It is supervised by a steering committee consisting of 27 members from Arab universities and some Arab scientists living abroad. It also has a General Secretariat hospitalized by Zarqa Private University in Jordan. This conference is the official conference for the Colleges of Computer and Information Society at Arab Universities, whose General Secretariat is at Suez Canal University in Egypt.
Dr.Abdul Hameed Sadiq/ the Director of Computer Center at Qatar University and General Chair of ACIT'2002 gave a welcoming speech in which he welcomed conference sponsors, president of the university, the conference General Secretary, Vice Presidents, academic staff and all guests and participants. He also praised the endless support offered by the university presidency to make this university one of the best international conferences wishing all guest at Qater a nice stay and a successful conference.
Conference sessions were held for three days as follows:
The First Day: Monday, December 16, 2002
- The first session was held under the patronage of His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah/ Minister of Industry and Energy and Head of Qatar Petrol Administrative Board.
- Inauguration of Information Technology Exhibition 2002 (Exspo’2002)
- Johann Guenther from Austria gave a keynote speech titled “Notebook and Wireless LAN SED for Postgraduate Learning”.
The Second Day: Tuesday, December 17, 2002
- In the first session, Professor Mohammad Obaidat from USA gave a keynote speech titled “Recent Trends in Information & Telecommunications Technology”.
- Two Parallel sessions were held in which some papers were presented.
- In the afernoon session, Professor Serge Miranda from France presented a keynote speech titled Strategic Evolution of Enterprise Computing with Wireless Internet Platforms”.
The Third Day: Wednesday, December 18, 2002·
- Proffessor Paul Wang from USA presented the opening session keynote speech titled “Fuzzy Logic Network for Genetic Networking”
- Four Parallel sessions were held in which some papers were presented.
- The concluding session.
- Proffessor Abdel-Badeeh Salem form Egypt presented a keynote speech “Case-based Reasoning Technology”.
The concluding session was held in the afternoon of the third day. The concluding statement of the conference was presented. The hosting university for the fourth conference in December 2003 was declared. The Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Egypt was chosen from a list of five applicants including An-Najah National University in Palestine, Assiut University in Egypt, Carthag University in Tunisia, and Mintouri- Constantine university in Algeria.
Its worth mentioning that there were (149) papers presented from (35) Arab and foreign countries. The total number of papers submitted to the conference was (276).
A number of scientific meetings were also held during the conference. The steering committee of ACIT held a meeting chaired by the General Secretary and attended by most members.
Their recommendations were as follows:
- Granting the Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Egypt the permission to host ACIT'2003.
- Putting the criteria for choosing the best three papers and honouring winning researchers.
- Intensifying efforts to attract more researchers from developed industrial countries.
- Inviting one of the distinguished figures to give a speech in each opening cermony.
The Colleges of Computer and Information Society of Arab universities held its annual meeting in which it discussed many issues. The committee discussed issuing the International Arab Journal of Information Technology, which is a refereed specialized journal that is published by Zarqa Private University, Jordan. The first issue will appear in the middle of 2003. In addition to that, a new Arab scientific society was born in the conference, named “Arab Society of Information Technology”. The first founding meeting for this society was held and all relevant issues were discurssed.
Conclusions and Recommendations
- The conference has achieved one of its goals in being international since 17 foreign countries participanted.
- 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 private sector to sponsor applied scientific research at Arab and foreign academic institutions equipping them with up-to-date facilities.
- Public and private institutions should be encouraged to increase finanicial support offered for conferences and scientific seminars which are considered as the best field for exchanging scientific experience.
- The Steering Committee decided to establish the Arab Society for Information Technology.
The conference concluded its sessions in the campus of Qatar University. The final activity included a visit to Ras Lifan Industrial City where participants were acquainted with the most modern industerial oil and gas technology in Qatar. At the end of the conference, thanking telegrams were sent to:
- His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani/ Prince of Qater and the Chief President of Qatar University.
- His Excellency Abdulla Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah/ Minster of Industry and Energy and Head of Qatar Petrol Administrative Board.
- President of Qatar Unviersity/ Dr. Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Khalifa.
All participants in the conference express their thanks and appreciation for his Excellency Abdulla Bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah, for the financial and moral support. Participants also extend their thanks to conference organizers and sponsors especially Dr. Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Khalifi/ President of the university, Dr. Abdul Hameed Sadiq/ Conference General Chair, Dr. Abdul Hameed Ma’arifiyya/ Vice Conference General Chair, Dr. Ahmed Hasnah/ Program Chair, Dr. Jihad Ja’am/ Vice Program Chair, all staff of Computer Center in Qatar University, Prof. Mohammad Al-Haj Hassan/ Secretary General for the conference, and all members of organising committees for the conference. Participants also hoped that the General Secretariat would continue to hold this conference regularly wishing Qatar University continuous progress and prosperity.