AMMAN - Under His Majesty's sponsorship and with wide national, Arab and international participation, the e-Jordan Conference 2002 will be launched next Monday June 3, along with a specialized e-solutions exhibition on the sideline at the Al-Ahliyya Amman University Arena.
The conference will concentrate on studying the latest developments in e-commerce, e-banking and e-education with Al-Dustour Guide being granted full coverage rights of the event.
At the end of the conference, a national action plan will be proposed and presented to attendees and participants of the conference in an open discussion in order to receive their input and suggestions within the conference's recommendations.
The conference will include several notable personalities from the world of e-commerce, e-banking and e-education such as Mr. Khamees Al Shaer, Director of Dubai e-government, Dr. Fawaz El- Zo'bi, Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, Dr. Khaled Toukan, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Vice Chair of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Taskforce, Muthu Venkatraman, India's ambassador to Jordan, Dr. Hamood Al-Saadoon from the Ministry of Health and Education in Kuwait, Dr. Ameen Mahmoud, President of the Amman Al-Ahlia University, Dr. Shabib Ammari, Chairman of the Jordan Telecom Group, Pierre Matthey, CEO of Jordan Telecom, Dr. Tayseer Abdul Jaber, Vice-President of the Jordan Securities Commission, Dr. Munzer El-Masri, President of the Information for Human Resources Development Services Project and Dr. Yousef Nseir, Director General of the National Information Center.
On this occasion, Dr. Ameen Mahmoud, President of Al-Ahliyya Amman University, told the Dustour that he "greatly praises His Majesty's vision to make Jordan an IT exporter of talent; a vision that continues the 10 year-old tradition of Jordan being a human store of wealth."
He noted that in order for us to empower this vision, we have to create a suitable IT atmosphere and environment to achieve the goals that can secure for our nation much of the advancement and success it wants to achieve. Mr. Mahmoud added that this initiative, which the Al-Ahliyya Amman University is embarking on with the joint participation of the IT Faculty and the National Information Technology Centre (NITC), aims to actively participate in adapting this environment.
On his part, Dr. Shabib Ammari said "it greatly honors the Jordan Telecom Group to participate and fund both the general and specialized activities of an event like the e-Jordan Conference which aims to develop ICT services in Jordan."
He added that Jordan Telecom has understood the vision of His Majesty to advance the IT and communications sectors to reach international standards since both sectors have been occupying leading positions ever since the world has become a connected village where information and knowledge has become in public hands, regardless of their geographical location.
Dr. Ammari noted that "since Jordanians deserve the best, it would be better if they can speed up the process of bridging the digital divide as soon as possible through the usage of advanced technologies and the recruitment of Jordanian human resources which has shown in the last few years an understanding of the extent of our need to bridge the technical divide and to disseminate the Internet culture in accordance to His Majesty's vision."
Dr. Ammari stated that Jordan Telecom is honored to be part of the group encouraging development in ICT services.
He noted that what makes the e-Jordan Conference distinct is the fact that it is the first event of its kind to be organized by a university. Its topics and recommendations are being supervised and handled by a qualified group of academics from the Al-Ahliyya Amman University.
Dr. Ammari added that the intiative is a step for scholars to interact with their Jordanian society both on the local and regional levels.
He stated that the advancement of Jordan not only constantly requires interaction between the private and public sectors but also between universities, academic institutions and scholars, particularly in the business sector.
The CEO re-affirmed his Group's commitment to continue following this approach saying, "This initiative has used the vision of His Majesty as a foundation to all its projects and services and as a guide to its path. The success of this conference is expected through its active contribution in Jordan's development and determining the future path of ICT."
Representatives from each of Jordan Bank, the Housing Bank and Citibank will be participating in the discussions related to e-commerce and e-banking. Moreover, a special committee for e-payment was established under the chairmanship of Mr. Samer Hamarneh from Comnet. According to Mr. Saeed Abu-Shar of the NITC, the committee's goal is to devise a plan for the application of the e-Payment Gateway operation system.
The committee held several meetings last month and met with several companies that have experience in applying the e-Payment Gateway operation system. It also studied the problems and legal and technical obstacles related to security and protection.
The committee will prepare a detailed report consisting of recommendations on methods to apply a unified E-Payment Gateway system in Jordan and then raise it to the concerned parties at the conference.