Egypt, KSA, UAE to share knowledge via Arab Digital union

CAIRO – 7 December 2018: Plans to establish an Arab Digital Union including three Arab digital libraries from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates together were announced Thursday.

This came on the last day of the Knowledge Summit 2018 held on December 5-6 at the Dubai World Trade Centre under the theme “Youth and the Future of the Knowledge Economy, and organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF).

The Arab Digital Union will bring together the Saudi Digital Library, Egypt’s Knowledge Bank (EKB), and the Dubai Digital Library.

“The Arab digital union is a dream that eventually comes true. It is a chance to share the data of the Egyptian knowledge bank with all Arabs” stated Minister of Education and Technical Education Tarek Shawki during the summit.

Shawki added “the launch of the Arab digital union will help consolidate the cultural exchange among the Arab nations, as well as help the growth of partnerships based on knowledge and culture.”

“The union of Arab digital libraries aims to enrich culture and knowledge on internet and access authenticated data in all categories all over the world,” explained the executive chief of MBRF, Jamal bin Huwaireb.

Bin Huwarieb further said that they seek “to get benefits from the Saudi digital library that was awarded MBRF`s prize this year, and the Egyptian knowledge bank in a way that guarantees the spread of knowledge in each and every region.”

The Egyptian Knowledge Bank is one of the largest national education projects in Egypt. It houses the largest digital library and online knowledge centre, providing access to free education in addition to contributing to the production and dissemination of knowledge to Egyptian universities, institutes, and research centers.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Digital Library has the largest collection of digital information resources in the Arab World, with more than 680,000 digital books and 174 international and Arab databases for academic articles and multimedia materials serving more than 6 million users.