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Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber Secretary General OF ictQATAR “Openness is the key for the country to develop as a thriving knowledge economy. Openness means collaboration, it means transparency; it means sharing and it means innovation. To this end, I believe digital openness across all sectors is essential to being a global leader of the future”
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n her nearly six years of leadership at ictQATAR, Dr. Al-Jaber has led Qatar’s ICT strategy across sectors, spearheading major initiatives in government, education and business. She has overseen the liberalisation of Qatar’s telecommunications market, ushering in an era of choice and competition, and directed the modernisation of ICT infrastructure. Passionate about ensuring that the benefits of technology reach all sectors, Dr. Al Jaber has led numerous initiatives to make Qatar a more inclusive society through ICT. She has spearheaded the modernisation of Qatar’s government through ICT, streamlining processes, making government more transparent and accessible to its people, and also launching an online portal to the government, Hukoomi. She also leads Qatar’s initiative to build the first high-capacity satellite “E’Shail” to be launched in 2012.
Sheikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al-Thani Chairman of Al Jazeera Board “Events themselves are what make news channels. We try to be present where events are taking place, to distinguish ourselves and transmit a clear picture to our viewers, whether they are in the Arab world or elsewhere”
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l Jazeera is a home-grown brand, one that pushed Qatar to international fame. The original Arabic news channel, established in 1996, not only bucked the trend towards frivolity and light entertainment but broke many taboos, interviewing Israeli politicians and allowing debate of a kind rarely seen on Arab television. It began to attract worldwide attention during the Afghan war in 2001 as the only station with a round-the-clock satellite link from Kabul to the outside world. Leading the organisation through controversies and bans was the man at its helm, Sheikh Hamad who says he owes the success of the organisation to freedom of expression. “I think the key word in our success is the amount of freedom available to the people who work here, in addition to their professionalism. That differentiates us from the others.” 52
Qatar Today November 10
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