Jordan Times
Thursday, September 9, 2004
'Forum is a milestone to develop vibrant regional ICT industry'
AMMAN (JT) — Minister of Information and Communications Technology Fawaz Zu'bi stressed the need for companies to take a regional view of the Middle East in building their markets beyond national boundaries and compete in new ways to win new markets and customers.
“The Jordan ICT Forum 2004 will set the agenda
for future development and growth of the region's ICT market through promoting a
path of a regional cooperation and synergy,” Zu'bi said.
“Over the past few years, the ICT markets in the region have seen tremendous
changes substantial growth and development, and today they offer significantly
enhanced investment opportunities. Technological development, legislative change
and expansion of the capabilities of human resources have all played a key role
in convincing global and regional investors that investment opportunities are
available in our dynamically growing market.”
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) will play an
active role in forum and will present the Kingdom's national ICT policy and
strategy, which will play a crucial role in further driving the development of
the local ICT sector over the next three years, according to a statement
released by the organisers yesterday.
The ministry team will also showcase the country's National Broadband Network
project, the Jordan e-Government Programme and the Jordan Education Initiative
at the Forum.
The MoICT will also unveil new investment opportunities in the postal sector and
will share with ICT leaders, the Kingdom's upcoming liberalisation plans in the
telecom sector, the statement said.
“The international and regional participation at the forum will play a key role
in enabling us to have a broader idea on the requirements of foreign investors,
identifying the opportunities and highlighting the obstacles in order to
overcome these challenges,” int@j Chairman Marwan Juma, said.
“The Jordan ICT Forum 2004 will enable local, regional and international ICT
stakeholders to share knowledge and establish new business leads via networking
with the decision makers and market leaders who will be attending the forum, he
added.”
The forum is organised by the Information Technology Association - Jordan (int@j)
and the MoICT.
Fastlink is the Platinum sponsor of the event and also the sponsor of the
regional press visit to Jordan; Microsoft Corporation and Batelco Jordan will
support the event through Gold sponsorships, with Intel Corporation as the
Silver sponsor.
The forum is also supported by Cisco Systems, Jordan Telecom as the official
sponsor of the press centre, Royal Jordanian Airlines as the official career
which is granting special discount on tickets for participants in the Forum,
Aramex International as the official courier and Science Applications
International Corporation as the international sponsor. The forum is partially
funded by the AMIR Programme/ US Agency for International Development.