The General Authority for Regulating the Telecommunications Sector, TRA, represented by the aeCERT, has won membership in the General Assembly Board of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference Computer Emergency Response Team, OIC-CERT.

The announcement was made during the TRA’s participation in the annual conference and meeting of the General Assembly of CERTs in the OIC, entitled, "Toward a responsive nation to the variables of cyberspace", held recently in Saudi Arabia.

The assembly board consists of representatives of seven countries. The UAE’s winning of this membership came after a fierce competition between five countries, where the UAE gained 13 out of 16 votes, which is the number of countries entitled to vote in elections out of 56 member states in the OIC.

Commenting on the announcement, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director-General, said, "Winning the membership of the board of the CERT’s General Assembly in the OIC is an important achievement added to the series of achievements made by the TRA during 2016. We look forward in the coming period to further coordination and cooperation between various Islamic countries and board members in order to reach the desired goals and objectives in exchanging experiences with all OIC countries and helping them develop future strategies and plans in this area."

Adel Rashed Al Mehairi, Director aeCERT at TRA, said, "This step reflects the trust of the OIC member countries in the ability of the UAE, represented by the TRA, in playing a vital role in strengthening the efforts of cooperation and coordination at the OIC level as a whole, and in contributing to future plans in cooperation with the rest of the member countries in the OIC. We look forward through winning this membership to contribute to the formulation of policies and programs that would change the security and integrity standards of information, data and cybersecurity at the level of OIC countries."