DUBAI, Oct 15 — Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil is scheduled to arrive here today to attend the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (Gitex) Global 2023 and Expand North Star (ENS) and kickstart his official four-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This is Fahmi’s maiden official visit to the UAE since he became minister on December 2 last year and was made the spokesman for the unity government.

His first programme in Dubai is a roundtable session with business representatives and potential investors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. This will be followed with a courtesy call to UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Application Omar Sultan Al Olama and an engagement with the Malaysian diaspora in Dubai.

Fahmi is also scheduled to join a panel discussion at Gitex to share Malaysia’s experience in implementing the 5G network with companies and has also been invited as the VIP speaker at ‘Shaping Next-Gen Telecom Policies: Global Spectrum Harmonisation for Mid-band 5G’ at Gitex Global 2023.

Thereafter, the minister is also scheduled for a bilateral meeting with Pakistan’s Caretaker Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Umar Saif.

The Malaysian delegation from the Communications and Digital Ministry and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) will also oversee a memorandum of understanding (MoU) exchange between UAE-based Disrupt X and Malaysia’s Enviro Group Asia on partnership in the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital technology for the Asean and Oceania regions.

MDEC chief executive officer Mahadhir Aziz said the key mission objectives to Dubai includes establishing stronger ties with global stakeholders in digital economy, particularly from the UAE; forging collaborations with new government agencies and system integrators in digital and financial technology; identifying strategic opportunities for promoting portfolio companies in the UAE; and drawing digital investments into Malaysia.

"We are looking into a few markets, consistent with Malaysia’s digital initiative. We are also bringing Malaysian companies to different markets worldwide.

"We also anticipate contributing to a substantial value in foreign direct digital investment into Malaysia and a significant amount of export revenues for the 12 Malaysian tech companies participating in ENS and Gitex, supported by MDEC,” he told Bernama.

Mahadhir added that the business mission offers Malaysian tech companies new avenues to strengthen partnerships, a deeper understanding of MDEC’s business support ecosystem in the UAE, and opportunities to explore business prospects in the Middle East, using Dubai as a hub.

The 43rd edition of Gitex Global will be attended by more than 6,000 companies from 170 countries from October 16 to 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, while ENS will be held from October 15 to 18 at the Dubai Harbour. — Bernama