Jordan Times
Monday, June 21, 2004
Unique trade advisory
programme introduced to Jordan
AMMAN (JT) — The Jordan-United States Business Partnership (JUSBP), a programme
managed by IESC and funded by USAID, has partnered with the Jordan Exporters
Association (JEA) to form a Jordanian team of professionally accredited trade
advisers capable of providing direct assistance to enterprises to improve their
competence in management, exporting and the application of information and
communications technology to businesses.
Under the guidance of the International Trade
Centre (ITC), JUSBP together with JEA, will play an important role in
determining the sectoral focus of the pilot programme and the selection of
potential trade adviser candidates.
ITC has been working with institutions in developing countries for the past 40
years to create sustainable trade training capacities by strengthening training
and enterprise support institutions and building teams of accredited trade
trainers and advisers.
ITC builds national teams of trainers and advisers that use the same business
model or “mental map” for enterprise development and offer an integrated package
consisting of software-based diagnostic tools, business planning tools and
training material.
On the various benefits of such a programme, David Hoh, JUSBP CEO and president
said: “This integrated approach, offers knowledge and skills to SMEs in the
disciplines of management, exporting and “e” enabled trade. The programme will
graduate world class certified trade advisers and help Jordan become a platform
in the Middle East for Arab trade advisory work.” Companies will therefore be
equipped with the required tools to expand internationally.
The team members will be trained as “trade advisers” to identify areas of
potential assistance in management, export and e-readiness using ITC's training
materials and enterprise development tools. Important in the selection criteria
of advisers will be their associated network and access to global trade and
resources.
Wafa Aranki, JUSBP director of quality and business standards said: “At the
conclusion of the training, the trade advisers will be capable of carrying out
enterprise audits that assess a company's trade capabilities, which will provide
a basis for rating the company's non-financial attribute. Secondly, the trade
advisers will learn to design effective trade training and counselling
programmes that meet the identified gaps in key skill areas and industry
sectors.”
CEO of JEA, Halim Abu Rahmeh, also added: “This unique and much needed programme
will contribute to the betterment of trade capabilities of Jordanians in both
the private and public sectors. The collaborative effort between JUSBP and JEA
to train and certify trade experts is estimated to take 20 months from project
commencement to completion starting with the training of several business
services organisations and government-related institutions.'