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He stressed that the overarching priority of the Ministry, and in fact the Government of Jordan, is to enable Jordanians to obtain decent work. To this end, he noted that the Ministry's priorities are:
- Employment and training;
- Improving working conditions and compliance with national and international labor standards; and,
- Regulating the labor market for guest workers.
With regard to employment and training, the Minister highlighted the reform of the E-TVET sector to ensure vocational training is employer driven and in-sync with labor market demands. Undertaken with a number of international partners, such as the World Bank, CIDA and the EU, the reform process targets, inter alia, capacity building to strengthen the E-TVET Council, reform of the management of the E-TVET Fund and the establishment of a Centre for Accreditation and Quality Control.
To further improve the chances of Jordanians to obtain work, Dr. Shbaikat stressed the importance of public-private partnerships. He noted the Ministry had developed a number of such partnerships to make available vocational training opportunities to Jordanians.
He highlighted partnerships with several QIZ garment sector investors, Aramex and a number of leading hotels in Jordan through which such training was provided, with salaries and other elements being subsidized by the Government of Jordan for a certain period of time to make training attractive for job seekers and affordable for the concerned sectors.
To ensure that jobs in Jordan are of a decent quality (safe, fairly paid, etc.), the Minister noted that it had embarked on an extensive reform of its Labor Inspectorate. Over the past few years it had recruited 64 new Labor Inspectors and provided training to all inspectors in cooperation with the International Labor Organization. In cooperation with the International Finance Corporation several new tools had been developed and introduced, such as a handbook for inspectors and a brochure explaining the process of inspection to employers.
The Minister also noted that, in order to strengthen Jordan's legal framework and adherence to international labor standards, Jordan amended its 1996 Labor Code in June 2008 and adopted an Anti-Trafficking Law in January 2009.
With regard to the regulation of the labor market for guest workers, the Minister noted that the Ministry's objective was to restrict guest workers to work only in sectors where there is a labor shortage and vocational training for Jordanians not immediately available, but at the same time to ensure that procedures for bringing guest workers into Jordan are simplified and clear.
During the event, AmCham Jordan and the Information Technology Association of Jordan - Int@j announced in the presence of H.E. Dr. Ghazi Shbeikat that the leading internet giant Google joined the member ranks of both organizations as of September 1, 2009.
In closing, the Minister referred to the fact that Google had joined both AmCham and Int@j as a member. He highlighted that, in an effort to cement the presence of companies such as Google in Jordan and attract other such companies to follow their example, the Ministry had, together with the Ministry of Telecommunications, entered into a public-private partnership with the IT sector, subsidizing the salaries of up to 500 graduates with a relevant Bachelors degree for employment in the sector.
H.E. Mr. Jay Knott, Director of the USAID Mission to Jordan, who was also present at the event, congratulated AmCham Jordan and Intaj on their newest member, he added that he is confident both organizations will be able to generate value for Google and Jordan's economy at large from the products and services they offer to their members.
Mr. Knott also said that USAID will continue to support Jordan's economic development including, training programs and collaboration with Jordanian firms and institutions to increase their productivity and growth through innovation and modern technology.
Mr. Mohammed S. Bataineh, Chairman of AmCham Jordan, said that Jordan has been successful over the past 10 years in attracting the attention of international and American corporations, several of which already have a presence amongst us in Jordan and at the AmCham.
He added that AmCham Jordan is always keen on enriching the Jordan experience of its members and to help them and the local business community drive the most benefit of the strong economic ties between Jordan and the U.S. on one hand and Jordan and the Mena region on the other.
Mr. Bataineh also addresses the importance of the online services Google has on offer, he said that Google's online tools offer a suitable platform to promote Jordan and Jordanian businesses worldwide and that a successful Private Public Partnership model could be designed around this concept.
Mr. Marwan Juma, Chairman of Int@j, highlighted "Jordan's ICT and BPO sector competitive advantage and the need to focus more on our human resources as a long term strategy that will drive Jordan's success and help in maintaining its position on the regional and international levels".
Mr. Abed Shamlawi, CEO of Int@j, commented:
"By Google joining both Jordanian associations, this increases the relevance of the Jordanian market to international ICT companies and puts Jordan on the map."
Mr. Mustafa M. Mustafa, CEO of AmCham Jordan, highlighted the importance of Google to Jordan. He said that Google already has a presence in most Jordanian businesses and homes, their online products and services are a must in today's connected world."
He added that AmCham Jordan looks forward to Google's engagement as a member and at committees' level and hopes that Jordanians would be able to drive more benefit from Google services through better understanding of the tools it offers.
Since its establishment, Int@j has been exerting a high effort level aiming at advancing the Jordanian ICT and BPO sector. Int@j has been looking for various partnerships with different institutions on the local, regional and international levels aiming at creating better ICT and BPO industry in Jordan, increasing the awareness of ICT and BPO services and products and stressing on the benefits of integrating ICT and BPO in other sectors.
The Information Technology Association of Jordan is an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry-support association founded in 2000 with the aim of improving the dynamics of Jordan's ICT market and developing the Kingdom's ICT related activities.
AmCham-Jordan is a voluntary not-for-profit member-based organization that contributes to economic development through the promotion of Jordan-US regional trade and investment, business development, public policy advocacy, human resources development, and business community outreach. Over the years, AmCham Jordan has become the private sector's focal point on how to drive benefit for the various U.S. Jordanian bilateral trade and economic agreements, namely the Free Trade Area, the Bilateral Trade Investment and the Science and Technology Cooperation agreements.
AmCham Jordan was founded in 1999 and officially became a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce in April 2004, thus becoming Jordan's first and only American Chamber of Commerce. Current membership level exceeds 300 U.S. and Jordanian companies.
Posted by Siba Sami Ammari
