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Experience The Future Of Tech Ecosystems At IDC Alliance
Tech visionaries and leaders will converge to take part in the second annual event of its kind in the UAE, November 22-23.
International Data Corporation (IDC), a global leader in ICT market intelligence and advisory services, has unveiled an ecosystem-focused event series that will see a convergence of tech visionaries, disruptors, and leaders join its IDC Alliance expo in the United Arab Emirates on November 22-23.
IDC’s research suggests that 70% of vendors will adopt a “customer-led ecosystem orchestration strategy by 2025”. Organizers of the IDC Alliance aim to revolutionize the way technology businesses collaborate, helping to drive innovation and transform their strategies.
“With the expansion of this year’s IDC Alliance, we’re excited to introduce two exceptional platforms where the brightest minds in technology will converge to drive innovation, collaboration, and progress,” said Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.
2023’s IDC Alliance will gather some of the tech landscape’s most influential thought leaders at one event, hosting a series of talks and conferences that bridge the gap between tech innovators, start-ups, cloud specialists, distributors, and enterprise CIOs. The platform will be a place for innovative ideas, insights, and plenty of networking opportunities.
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The expo’s agenda will be packed with thought-provoking panel discussions covering various industry trends, challenges, and opportunities, with topics including:
- The Evolving Role of the CIO and Understanding the Buyer Journey
- Talent Management: Growing and Grooming Local Tech Talent
- Building and Leveraging Cloud Partner Ecosystems
- Driving Competitive Advantage Through Cyber-Risk Assessments
- Becoming AI Ready: Transforming Businesses for the Future
- Industrial Automation and OT Convergence: Delivering Value and Trust
Join the packed roadster of industry leaders at IDC Alliance at the Mövenpick Resort, Al Marjan Island, UAE, November 22-23.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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