ESCWA organized two initiatives this week to strengthen the capacity of Arab public institutions to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for policymaking and digital transformation, while promoting responsible governance and strategic foresight.
On 9 November, ESCWA and Jordan’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MODEE) held a national capacity-building workshop in Amman on AI and strategic foresight for policymaking. The workshop focused on building sustainable AI and foresight capabilities across government, integrating foresight into national development planning, strengthening AI literacy among non-technical decision makers and developing evidence-based AI roadmaps and action plans.
The initiative was followed on 11 November by a regional expert group meeting held virtually on the safe and effective deployment of AI agents in Arab public institutions. The meeting brought together policymakers, officials and experts in digital policy, AI, data governance and cybersecurity to review an ESCWA guidebook and contribute regional perspectives to its further development.
The guidebook responds to the growing adoption of agentic AI, which can support better digital services, efficiency and productivity but also raises governance, regulatory and security challenges when AI agents operate autonomously and interact with external systems. It provides practical guidance covering the lifecycle of AI agents, from design and development to deployment and monitoring, with an emphasis on transparency, control, security, accountability and human oversight.
Together, the two initiatives reflect the efforts of the Regional Commission to help Arab countries translate rapid advances in AI into practical public-sector applications while strengthening the skills, governance frameworks and forward-looking approaches needed for responsible adoption.
