News | Ministry of Transport

Monday, November 18, 2019

Minister meets with Republic of Benin’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Infrastructure and Transport

Doha,HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti met here today with the Republic of Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation, Mr. Aurelien Agbenonci, the Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Benin and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Hervé Hêhomey.The meeting discussed aspects of cooperation in the fields of transportation, communications, ports and civil aviation and means of further enhancing them. They also discussed potential investment opportunities in these fields, in addition to a number of matters of common interest between the two friendly countries.The meeting was attended by the delegation accompanying the Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Benin and HE Mr. Mohamed Bare, Ambassador of the Republic of Benin to the State of Qatar.

Monday, November 18, 2019

HE Minister Witnesses Signing of Agreement between MWANI Qatar, MSC

Doha – QatarHE Minister of Transport and Communications and Board Chairman of Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar), Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti today witnessed the signing of a container services agreement between “Mwani Qatar” and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).As per the agreement, MSC, starting from January 2020, will use Hamad Port as a regional hub to manage transshipments for up to 150,000 TEUs per year, growing to one million TEUs by 2023.“The agreement between “Mwani Qatar” and MSC is part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications’ strategic plan to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional trading hub in the region,” the Minister said on the occasion, adding that the transshipment operations are of the added value services that the world's hub ports seek to increase by attracting regular international shipping routes.“The agreement also enhances the competitiveness of Qatar and Hamad Port on the regional and international maritime transport map, as it will help attract more trans-shipment containers as well as encourage more international shipping lines to add Hamad Port to their regional routes and sign similar agreements in the future,” Al-Sulaiti noted.He went on to say: “Hamad Port has been able, in a short period, to occupy a distinguished position among the ports of the region in the volume of container and cargo handling. The annual turnover of Hamad Port is one of the highest compared to neighboring ports. It is also the second largest port in the region in terms of capacity at a rate of 7.5 million containers annually.”Commenting on the agreement, Mwani Qatar CEO Captain Abdullah Al Khanji said: “We are delighted to sign this agreement with MSC, which is an important in achieveing our goals to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional trading hub in the region.”He explained that the agreement will enable Hamad Port to become a transit station where the transport, loading and unloading of containers or cargo belonging to MSC will take place regionally, which their final destination will be to another port outside the State of Qatar .Al Khanji added: “The agreement contributes to the optimal utilization of the capabilities of Hamad Port and will enhance the import and export operations through it. It also contributes to the utilization of the differential advantages of Qatar's strategic location on international maritime trade routes and enhances Hamad's position and role in the national economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.”

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Qatar Digital Government signs MoU with Huawei Technologies

DOHA-In its bid to further support the national digital strategies and policies developed and promoted by the State of Qatar, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), through its Qatar Digital Government Training Programme (QDGTP) initiative, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei Technologies.The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition (QITCOM 2019) held in Doha recently.Under the terms of the MoU, Huawei Technologies is partnering with QDGTP to provide advance technology training programme for the IT national talents in government as part of the QDGTP Training Plan. The company will also provide information and guidance on national ICT initiatives that fall under its mandate and provide the necessary support in the fulfilment of joint initiatives.Huawei will support initiatives in government, local research centres, academia and startup incubators that develop the capabilities and expertise. It will also support initiatives aimed at developing the capabilities of Qatar’s digital workforce, so the nation can better meet the demands of digital revolution that is transforming different sectors of local and global economy.Reem al Mansoori, assistant undersecretary of Digital Society Development Sector at the MoTC, said, “MoTC is focused on developing highly skilled ICT professionals in all sectors, including the government, and we are leaving no stone unturned in our commitment to the Smart Qatar initiative. We believe all entities in Qatar will benefit from this agreement as Qatar’s digital ecosystem continues to evolve.”Huawei Technologies will also provide consultation and advices to relevant departments to identify pertinent opportunities to digital growth.Trevor Liu Yan, CEO Gulf North Region, Huawei Technologies, said, “Development of the ICT ecosystem is essential in order to bring digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. By working with the Ministry of Transport and Communication to digitally empower its employees through a comprehensive training programme, we are providing them with the tools required to continue building Qatar’s digitally-driven society.”The Qatar Digital Government initiative is aimed at enhancing customer experience, provide greater access to government services and improve efficiency thus leading to better outcomes for the nation.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

MOTC Holds Pre Drill for 7th National Cyber Drill Star-7

Monday, November 11, 2019

MOTC Holds Adoption Service Provider program Workshop

Doha-The Ministry of Transport and Communications organised a workshop for the cybersecurity service providers accreditation programme as part of the ministry's keenness to strengthen the cybersecurity system in the country.The workshop, which was attended by a large number of representatives of the public and private sectors, aims to raise the efficiency in various parts of the country by activating the joint responsibility between the two sectors.Director of Compliance and Data Protection at the Ministry Engineer Dana al-Abdullah stressed the importance of working with the National Information Security Standards Framework within the National Cybersecurity Strategy and its role in assisting organisations and institutions from all sectors in securing information systems and raising the level of maturity in the applications of information security policies.She added that accreditation contributes to raising the efficiency of the supply chain in the field of cybersecurity as it enables accredited service providers to build trust and confirms the ability and professionalism of the accredited provider, including all accredited service providers, as this guide provides an updated list of all credits issued by the Compliance and Data Protection Department, allowing organisations to verify the validity of accreditation.The accreditation programme is a catalyst for the private sector, as the service provider accredited by the Ministry receives multiple advantages that facilitate access to new markets for audit services for the system of certificates of compliance. It also provides new marketing opportunities to accredited service providers by including its name in the online platform for the Compliance and Data Protection Department.The programme is divided into several key pathways for accreditation: audit services, advisory services, penetration testing services, cloud services, and cyber security operations center services.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

QDGTP showcases 8 AI use-cases from six entities at QITCOM 2019

Doha-Eight Artificial Intelligence (AI) use-cases from six entities in Qatar were showcased during the Digital Transformation Workshop organised by the Qatar Digital Government Training Program (QDGTP) in partnership with Microsoft, an initiative by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) , on the sidelines of the recently concluded Qatar Information Technology Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019).The six entities are General Authority of Customs (GAC), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Aljazeera, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), Aspetar and Aspire. Ali El Sheshtawi from GAC presented a machine learning module, developed by the Authority, to help in document processing by reducing risk of human error and time taken in handling documents while HMC, represented by Ramez Raafat and Babu Ramesamy, presented the chatbot and auto coding usecases respectively.Through the chatbot use case, intelligent agent within the organization will help shorten the path and time to get the needed information and understand the correct actions needed. By using machine learning to automate the code assignment, on the other hand, many support and logistic departments within HMC will benefited as it helps in assigning the right medical code to the right case.Other use-cases include the Injury Prevention case presented by Rodney Whiteley from Aspetar which showcased how the hospital is using machine learning to track athlete movement during the rehabilitation phase thereby preventing further injuries and longer treatment time.Aspire’s Saleh Msleh presented the Player Posture use-case which highlighted how Aspire is using machine learning to help athletes succeed in their journey by ensuring they have the right posture at the right moment. Additionally, Al Jazeera highlighted how AI is helping the organisation via content moderation and chatbot respectively.Grant Totten showed how the organisation is using AI to moderate the content being aired to ensure compliance with international standards and how the HR and Support Services department has developed an intelligent agent to respond to employee enquires and provide better response rate considering the huge growth of Al Jazeera worldwide.Laith Khrisat from MoCI, on the other hand, highlighted how the ministry is handling its document processing by using AI to digitize and extract the needed content and speed up the internal processes from the huge volume of documents being uploaded to the ministry database daily.Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for the Digital Society Development Sector at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “We are delighted with the various presentations from the participating organisations which showcased how Artificial Intelligence is helping them overcome challenges in the line of duty. Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly important in government’s effort at building an efficient and sustainable digital society and MoTC aims to continue to keep abreast of all developments in the digital technology sector in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030. We believe the use-cases presented during this event will be of great value in achieving the vision.”