Abu-Ghazaleh, Keynote Speaker at ‘Smart Industrial Cities’ Forum in Baghdad

BAGHDAD – Upon an official invitation from the Iraqi Minister of Industry, HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), took part as a keynote speaker at the Economic Forum for Industry, Smart Industrial Cities and Small and Medium Enterprises, held in Baghdad by Ministry of Industry and Minerals, under the patronage of H.E. Minister of Industry Mr. Manhal Aziz.

The Forum was attended by a large number of Iraqi and Jordanian businessmen, representatives of relevant industrial and smart cities authorities, and supporting institutions of small and medium enterprises. 

In his keynote address, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated that the transformation of industrial cities into smart and sustainable cities became ‘imperative’ in light of the technological development and the transformation to smart industrial and knowledge production, as well as  smart government and economy. He affirmed that such transformation aims to achieve several goals, most importantly, the preservation of environment, the provision of best services, and  the realization of export competitiveness. 

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh indicated that digital transformation is not limited to e-commerce or e-government; rather, it is an integrated plan he affirmed, expressing his optimism in the progress of the Arab countries towards digital transformation. He therefore called on decision makers in the Arab countries to set up an integrated and consistent strategy to achieve digitization.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh concluded that TAG.Global managed in a short period of time to achieve success in manufacturing technological devices that serve plans of digital transformation by building three factories for this purpose in China, Egypt and Jordan to contribute to the support of Arab governments and all other institutions  in their digital transformation process.

For his part, Minister Aziz stated that the aim of the Forum is to reach industrial and economic integration between Iraq and Jordan, referring to a number of cooperation agreements that have been signed between the two sides that serve Iraq’s efforts towards digital transformation.

It is worth mentioning that an agreement was signed by TAG.Global and Al Manar Human Resources Training and Consulting Company on the sideline of the Forum, to cooperate in developing and implementing joint face-to-face capacity building programs, as well as digital and remote training programs that aim at preparing and implementing education and training consulting projects.