UN ICT Task Force Arab Network Launch
Under the Patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II
Amman Statement
Upon the invitation of Jordan’s Ministry of Post & Communications, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International (TAGI), United Nations ICT Task Force (UN ICT TF) and the Information Technology Association of Jordan (Int@j) held the “UN ICT Task Force Arab Network Launch” meeting at the Sheraton Al-Nabil Hotel & Towers, Amman, Jordan on January 13, 2002.
This meeting was held under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II and under the chairmanship of Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Bureau Member and Chairman of the Working Group on Human Resources and Capacity Building (HRCB), UN Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) - NY.
The Secretary General of the United Nations officially launched the UN ICT TF on November 20, 2001, to form partnerships with public, private, non-profit and multilateral stakeholders, in order to establish networks as forums for addressing development issues. The meeting's objectives were, to launch and develop the ICT policy and strategy with multi-stakeholder participation, for the United Nation’s ICT Network in the Arab region. The Arab Regional Network will provide a specific region to support and strengthen the UN ICT TF in its activities to help in bridging the digital divide.
Meeting Participants
A large number of other senior officials from ministries and institutions, heads and representatives of diplomatic missions and experts in business, communications and electronic businesses from Jordan as well as governmental and private sector representatives from the Arab region and other countries attended and participated in the conference. International and intergovernmental and funding agencies were also present.
Meeting Decisions & Recommendations
The meeting stressed on the urgent need to strengthen the region-wide collaboration in ICT in order to develop and to ensure an adequate reflection of the region’s specifics in other international initiatives. In this regard the meeting agreed that the UN ICT TF presents an appropriate and effective forum for achieving these goals, and adopted the following recommendations:
· Announcement of the Arab Regional Network.
· To domicile the Arab Regional Network in Amman.
· To ask for the permission of His Majesty King Abdullah II to accept the Honorary Chairmanship of the Network.
· Election of Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh as the Arab Network Chair.
· Election of Mr. Karim Kawar as the Network Coordinator.
· Election of Mr. Mustafa Naser El-Din as the Network Secretary.
· Election of the following members to the term bureau until September 2002:
q HE Dr. Fawaz Al-Zu’bi, Minister of Post & Communications, Jordan.
q HE Dr. Khaled Touqan, Minister of Education and Higher Education, Jordan.
q Mr. Amr S. Azzouz, Senior Regional Advisor, UNESCO, Cairo Office.
q Dr. Sherif Hashem, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Egypt.
q Mrs. Najat Rochdi, ICT policy Advisor for Arab States UNDP, Bureau for Development Policy.
q Professor Izz El-Din Osman, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Sudan.
q Mr. Sam Bahour, Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies, Palestine.
q Mr. Jalal Fawaz, Chairman Professional Computer Association, Lebanon.
q Mr. Gilbert Marc Lacroix, General Manager, Arab countries and Western Africa, Intel.
q Dr. Mohammad Said Jazaerli, Advisor of the Prime Minister, Prime Ministry, Damascus, Syria.
q Mr. Ayman M. Adhair, Director, Electronic Government International Public Services, KPMG Consulting.
q Ms. Claudine Bichara De Oliveira, Latin America Network (Observer).
· To set up a Secretariat headed by the Network Coordinator, Karim Kawar.
· To hold the first official meeting of the Network in Amman under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II during September,2002.
· To host the Secretariat of the Network at the offices of Information Technology Association of Jordan (Int@j) in collaboration with UNDP Office in Jordan.
· To request the elected Bureau to develop an action plan.
· To invite the UN ICT TF Work Group on Human Resources & Capacity Building Chairman, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, to hold one of its coming meetings in Amman, Jordan.
· To hold the next country strategy meeting in Rabat, Morocco during April, 2002.
· To recommend Mr. Sherif Hashem to represent the Arab Regional Network at the African Network.
· To recommend Mr. Karim Kawar to represent the Arab Regional Network at the Latin American Network.
· To recommend Mr. Rifad Al-Farhan to represent the Arab Regional Network at the Asian Network.
Expressions of Gratitude
The organizing parties and participants expressed their deep thanks and appreciation to His Majesty King Abdullah II, and sent him a telegram to that effect. They also included in their thanks and appreciation: His Royal Highness Prince Faisal Bin Al-Hussein, His Excellency Dr. Salah El-Din Al-Bashir, Minister of Industry & Trade, for his speech at the opening session, Mr. Sergei Kambalov, Secretariat Chief of ECOSOC, and Mr. Ove Bjerregaard, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program, and asked him to convey their appreciation for the meeting with the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Anan.
The organizing parties and participants expressed their deep thanks and appreciation to the meeting co-sponsors: MobileCom, Back Office Support Services (BOSS IT) and United Business Machines (UBM).
Chairman, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, in his closing remarks expressed his gratitude to Mr. Jose Maria Figueres Olson, Mr. Sarbuland Khan, and Mr. Pekka Tarjanee for their UN ICT TF leadership.
The meeting extended its thanks to all the speakers for their presentations and speeches.
Issued in Amman, Jordan on 13 January 2002.
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