The 2012 edition of Comex, the Sultanate’s largest IT, telecom and technology exhibition kicked off at the Oman International Exhibition Centre yesterday. The five-day COMEX 2012 is organised by Oman International Trade and Exhibitions Company in collaboration with the Information Technology Authority (ITA) under the motto “Towards Innovation in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)”. The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, in the presence of a number of ministers and officials from public and private sectors. Speaking on 1335792915262978100 the occasion, Dr Al Futaisi, stated, “The exhibition is a great chance for both governmental and private establishments to showcase the latest in ICT from around the world. There are a lot of governmental establishments that displayed new things, which showed a noticeable progress in government services, and the digital community overall. Also, the GCC and international participation in this year’s event is a good addition to the exhibition.” “We also saw the participation of e.oman projects and initiatives and we wish them success. Also, the exhibition offers a chance for the companies to communicate 1335792920162980100 with the government institutions in order to offer the latest in this section. This will in turn help the government to better its e-services,” the minister added. Organising this event comes to encourage businessmen, consumers and governmental institutions, as well as adopting and using modern technologies, in addition to gathering local and international companies, governmental and non-governmental authorities and organisations, academics, researchers, investors and visitors to discuss and showcase products, solutions, innovations and trends related to information technology (IT) sector. COMEX 2012 is divided into three main sections. The first section is allocated for 1335792920282980400 showcasing Digital Oman Initiative and governmental services through the participation of 30 governmental institutions, in addition to governmental establishments participating from the sisterly United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait, and other countries like Estonia, Lithuania and Singapore to highlight e-government projects and programmes in the Sultanate and the participating countries. The second section is allocated for businessmen and global companies specialised in ICT to promote their professional relations with individuals and specialised companies. The third section is allocated for sales as it avails an opportunity for visitors to buy new products in the world of 1335792920432980700 ICT through the participation of 130 local and international companies that display about 225 brands. Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of ITA said that COMEX 2012 is witnessing a remarkable progress as it attracts a number of leading companies that showcase their latest techniques in education. He added that the educational content will be electronic during the upcoming ten years so there will be a pressing need for the programmers in the Arab countries to transform the content to the electronic version, pointing out that there are 1335792920542981000 a number of male and female teachers in the Sultanate who have great potentials in this field. He furthered that there are two projects concerning with data transfer being implemented by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), namely withdrawing a number of frequencies from the governmental sector and offering them to the private sector and setting up a governmental company for the broadband. COMEX Business will highlight the latest tech savvy products, services and solutions that organisations can adopt in order to make their businesses more efficient and competitive. This section enables business enterprises to showcase 1335792915022977800 the latest in ICT technology namely 4G technologies, Cloud Computing solutions, Social Commerce tools and much more and will put the spotlight on those flexible communication and collaboration tools that have changed the business environment today. COMEX Shopper will feature the latest IT gadgets, products and consumer electronics that allow the ordinary customer to adopt the latest innovations from multimedia content streaming on 4th generation Android and iOS based smart phones and tablets to stylish flat ultra-books packed with innovative HD-capable and multi-touch technology, thus keeping the customer in tune with changing trends related to the field of technology. Exhibition timings are from 10 am to 10 pm. On Friday, Comex will be open from 4:30 pm to 10 pm.