Jordan ICT Forum 2004 cornerstone event for national ICT initiatives

"We have been working, often quietly, often behind the scenes, to develop Jordan's ICT sector and to drive that development across all walks of life in the country, from transforming our educational sector through to building strategic relationships between the public and private sectors that will drive the capabilities of young Jordanians and the opportunities they can hope for in the future," said Jordanian Minister of ICT, Dr. Fawaz H. Zu'bi. "The ICT Forum gives us the opportunity to share our work, but also to learn from others at every level as we refine our goals moving forwards."

The Forum, organised by the Jordanian technology association, int@j in conjunction with the Ministry of ICT, is itself a major example of Jordan's strong public/private sector co-operation, bringing together stakeholders from regional and global corporations with government leaders.

"The Forum is a regional event and we hope that we will be able to work there to not only transfer some of the experience and knowledge we have gained here in Jordan, but also to share with our friends around the region, to promote capacity building and opportunities for us all," said Marwan Juma, chairman of int@j.

Jordan's national education initiatives include the implementation of a national e-learning platform, early years PC-based learning and University and school level connectivity programmes that integrate closely with curricular developments that reflect the move to ICT-based learning at a national level. These initiatives have been led by the Ministries of Education, Planning and ICT working in close co-operation. Jordan's remarkably strong private/public sector links and relationships have been key to the success of these initiatives, with major programme elements being developed in conjunction with the World Economic Forum. These examples of co-operation include the WEF backed JEI (Jordan Educational Initiative) which is sponsored by major global ICT companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, HP, Intel, Siemens and Sun Microsystems, as well as a number of other global, regional and national companies. The multi-track initiative has, in its first year, matched or beaten all of its projected timelines and goals.

"We're building opportunity in Jordan, for now and for the future. We've been fortunate in that we have enjoyed the backing and support of so many companies and stakeholders from around the world. The Forum also gives us the opportunity to share our achievements so far with them and others, as well as to perhaps say at least a small part of the enormous 'thank you' we would like to extend to our partners in building that opportunity," said Zu'bi.

The Forum, a two-day regional ICT conference that follows on from the 2000 and 2002 forum, is set to see over 700 delegates from Jordan, the Middle East region and other countries participating in an event addressed by over 40 expert speakers from around the world, including His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan. The keynote session of the Forum will include addresses from Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers and Dr. Fawaz H. Zu'bi, Jordan's Minister of ICT. Other ministerial level speakers at the event include Dr. Bassem Awadallah, Minister of Planning and Dr. Khaled Toukan, Minister of Education. Speakers include CEOs, CTOs, VPs and government ICT development authority heads from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and America. The Master of ceremony for the ICT Forum will be Scott Shuster.

"The ICT Forum has, in the past, been focused on our national strategies for ICT development, particularly the REACH process. This Forum, for the first time, int@j and the MoICT agreed that we wanted to extend our work to a regional level because we believe that we cannot be an island. We believe that we have a great deal to give others in our region, and that we can all work together to build greater opportunity on a region-wide level. All that takes is vision and the will to work together. And we believe that's there," said Juma.

The Forum will also see Jordan's new national mathematics curriculum going live, implemented as part of the nationwide move to implementing e-learning across all public schools and set to be inaugurated by Jordanian Minister of Education, Dr. Khaled Toukan and John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems. With a major focus on driving capacity building efforts in Jordan, other announcements at the event will include the launch of a new incubator by Jordanian GSM operator Fastlink, an initiative set to build commercial opportunities for young Jordanians.