Oman and Tunisia to cooperate in Digital Certification 

(MENAFN - Times of Oman) Information Technology Authority (ITA) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Digital Certification Agency (Agence Nationale de Certification Electronique-ANCE of Tunisia) to undertake cooperative efforts to establish the Digital Certification system for the Sultanate.

The signing ceremony was held on the ITA premises in KOM, Rusayl.

Dr Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA; and Sami Ghazali, CEO of ANCE; signed the MoU.

After signing the MoU, Ghazali paid an official visit to the office of Mohammed Nasser Al Khusaibi, secretary-general at the Ministry of National Economy and chairman of ITA.

The team also toured the secured Government Data Centre facility at KOM.

The main objective of this MoU is to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in the field of security and validation of electronic exchanges and to exchange experience and expertise in the field of secure digital signatures and the role of a certification authority.

e-signature

The scope also covers exploring opportunities to create the favourable conditions to promote electronic signature validation through mutual cooperation. Speaking on the MoU, Dr Al Ruzaiqi said: "The Electronic Transactions Law of the country through the Royal Decree has given the responsibility to establish a Digital Certification System to ITA. Through this MoU, we would like to have closer cooperation with the authorities involved in the Tunisian experience, who are the pioneers of such implementation in the Arab region. Establishment of a Digital Certification System is a very important component of activating the transactional electronic services in Oman and making them legally valid both for the public and private sectors. We intend to have two-day workshops with Tunisian experts, today and tomorrow, to share their experience and expertise in the establishment of a framework to issue and manage digital signatures."