Special to AG-IP News Agency 

AMMAN – HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), stated that the technological infrastructure is the most important factor that helps building a strong economy. 

In his interview with the Egyptian weekly ‘Rose Alyousef'  Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said: "The current Egyptian political leadership has decided to sell the present to buy the country’s future as it had to choose one of two available options: either to seek populist acceptance by spoiling the people and offering them luxurious and comfortable life which could end up destroying the State’s economic future; or pursue an austere life style, however unpopular, in favor of a secure economic future based on solid and sustainable infrastructure". Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh affirmed that Egypt has chosen the second option; which has been evaded by a number of former Egyptian presidents, therefore, the idea of ‘culture transformation’ has become a major achievement.

Regarding the reason for shifting to digital education where students are becoming digital learners, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated that: “It is a historical achievement since the future would not exist without digital knowledge. Wealth creation by individuals or countries could not be achieved without digital inventions.”

He further elaborated that: “Google and Amazon, for instance, some of the largest and most dominant corporations in the information technology industry of the world, have a market value that could reach up to $1 trillion (a thousand billion US dollars), and they are just ‘computer programming companies – knowledge corporations’ that operate without basic materials, products or services that they provide to the market, and their main resource is a person who sits in front of a computer screen and invents an idea.” 

During the interview, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh explained that "Egypt today is implementing an ambitious plan to restore and to reconstruct  the country’s agricultural potential as basis for national economic self-sufficiency”; adding that “ the government chose to plant huge quantities of wheat, despite the fact that it could be purchased at a lower cost. However the measure is seen as a long term food security strategy and a safe leap into the future." 

Furthermore, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh talked about culture change, noting that it starts from the top, which means the Head of State and political leadership the they are the authorized entities to make the appropriate decisions for development and success; the decisions that need to be accompanied by raising peoples’ awareness and understanding of the benefits of cultural change for their better future.