A number of activities have taken place in Jordan over the course of the ESIS II project in order promote Information Society through private and public sector initiatives with the aim of developing the Information Technology sector in Jordan. His Majesty King Abdullah has made extensive efforts to turn Jordan into the Information Technology hub of the Middle East. In this context, the King and the government have embarked on ambitious programmes to attract foreign investments and multinational companies; legislate intellectual property rights; implement educational reforms; to develop the telecommunications infrastructure, the legal and regulatory framework and the e-commerce sector for business and government; and to promote these efforts through IT conferences and seminars.

The first national strategy for the development of the information technology sector was launched in 1999 the REACH initiative, where IT entrepreneurs set the target of attracting $150 million in foreign direct investments by 2004. Over the last 18 months one-third of that goal has already been achieved, and the IT sector has lured in $53 million in foreign direct investments.

Over the past year Jordan has witnessed an IT revolution. His Majesty King Abdullah has been active in promoting Jordan’s IT potential abroad by holding a meeting with Microsoft President Bill Gates, during last February’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and inviting IT giants to Jordan’s first IT forum. King Abdullah also held talks with Microsoft Vice-President for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe Michel Le Combe.

Jordan’s first IT Forum was held at the Dead Sea on March 24-25. This Forum was an initiative by King Abdullah who had invited representatives of the world's biggest software firms to gather at the conference which aims to boost Jordan's software development and information technology (IT) industry. This provided Jordan with the opportunity to show-case local companies and provide them with a chance to network at the global level. The Forum brought together key government officials, private sector investors, and representatives from international agencies and companies to share their visions and solutions for the development of Jordan's IT sector. Around 340 participants representing some 100 international and more than 50 local companies specialized in information technology or interest in financing IT programmes participated in the forum.

A major milestone for Jordan is that it propagated and enforced world-class Intellectual Property Rights legislation, which paved the way for this year’s accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO). In order to promote awareness of intellectual property rights a seminar was held in February of this year at the University of Jordan (UJ) in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Library. Additionally the first regional Arab conference on electronic trade and intellectual property rights was held in Amman in September. The three-day conference was organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Jordanian Society of Information Technology. Jordan’s recent reforms in intellectual property and copyrights laws is a major reason for Microsoft recently announcing their entry into Jordan by opening up a local office in Amman in February 2001.

Another priority of the government was to focus on educational reforms and telecommunications infrastructure. His Majesty has been pressuring the government very hard on education reforms, and now English and computer skills are taught in grade one in public schools. One of the first programmes in the education reform was an announcement by the Minister of Education in November 1999 that the Ministry would launch a computer training program in all the state schools. The Ministry of Education aims to reach 21000 trainers. A series of 700 three-month training workshops kicked-off in mid-November in order to have more IS educated schoolteachers and key persons in the educational sector.

During the IT forum the King also prevailed on Jordan Telecommunications Company (JTC) to commit to developing the country’s telecommunications infrastructure to attract foreign investment and to enable local firms to function. JTC has delivered on its commitments and on December 11, 2000 launched the country’s first toll-free service to favour businesses in general and the establishment of regional call centres. More importantly, JTC has announced that the first phase of a high-speed data communications network will be ready by the end of December 2000.

Creating a new type of partnership between the public and private sector was also another major achievement in Jordan’s IT development drive. Industry and government representatives sat together for 10 weeks and in September 2000, came up with REACH 2.0. REACH 2.0 is considered the second phase of last year’s REACH initiative – a five year plan for "Regulatory framework, Estate and infrastructure, Advancement programmes, Capital and Human resources development". Chairman of the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J), Karim Kawar stated the main objective of this initiative is to create an advanced knowledge-based economy that has the potential benefits to compete successfully in the world economy. The Reach 2.0 initiative proposes strategies for investment, education and training, infrastructure development and regulation to accelerate growth in the IT sector. REACH 2.0 encompasses a long action list including amendments to key legislation such as the Investment Promotion, Companies, Securities and Labour Laws. The so-called "IT package" or "Reach package" is expected to be championed by Post and Telecoms Minister Fawaz Zu’bi and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Halaiqah within the Cabinet. The government recently announced it has finalised a draft on e-commerce and electronic signatures, expected to be included in the package It should be submitted to Parliament in its current ordinary session, to close in March 2001. In the framework of the REACH 2.0 initiative a series of twelve technical workshops were held in Amman, all sponsored by INT@J and the information and technology sector. In addition to continuing to work on implementing Reach 2.0, streamlining, organising, and boosting the sector, the Information Technology Association of Jordan (Int@j) also plans another important event in 2001: The second Jordan IT forum with the intention to be held in Silicon Valley between the end of May and the beginning of June 2001.

The Jordanian government has recently started to develop the e-commerce sector. Telecommunications Minister Fawaz Zu’bi plans to turn his ministry into an Info-Com-Technologies (ICT) ministry, also overseeing the implementation of a national e-government strategy endorsed by the Economic Consultative Council (ECC) in September. The Economic Consultative Council (ECC) of Jordan entrusted a technical committee in May, 2000 with laying down the groundwork for an e-project on the road to an "e-government and e-commerce" in line with the latest Information Technology systems. In September the Economic Consultative Council launched its first action plan for e-government, envisaging its completion between the next three-five years and the implementation of a few fast-track projects within the next 12-18 months. The seven fast-track projects identified by the 16-member e-government committee on the basis of their feasibility and visibility will involve services in government-to-business (G2B), government-to-citizens (G2C), and government-to-government (G2G) transactions. Citizens will not need to have a home PC to benefit from the government’s future online services since special kiosks will be set up in schools and post offices across Jordan.

One of the initial projects related to IT development and one that is still running is the "Information Technology Project". In mid-August, 1999 the President of RSS Mr. Saied Aloush (Royal Scientific Society) and the Leader of JICA's Implementation Study Team (Japan International Cooperation Agency), signed a Discussion Record in order to launch the second phase of "Information Technology Upgrading Project". As already mentioned, the RSS/JICA cooperation has started in 1993 with successive four-month regional training workshops on information systems engineering that take place due to contractual agreement. This "IT Upgrading Project" is addressed to computer specialists of the Arab world through courses devoted to Client/Server Systems. The project started in December 1999 and will last 3 years. Japan provides the equipment and will offer a training of RSS trainers in Japan.

A series of e-business projects which seek to guarantee small firms a better participation in the global trade arena was launched on Sunday October 1, 2000. The European Commission (EC), the Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI), the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J), and the Euro-Jordanian Business Service Team (BST) have signed a contract on three e-commerce initiatives targeting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The programme includes an e-commerce business training plan, an e-commerce awareness campaign and the organization of an e-commerce conference in 2001. In December INTAJ started the implementation of phase one of the project "Training of Trainers". Candidates have now been selected to undergo a one-week training session in December and a two-week session early in January 2001. The training will cover aspects of e-commerce and e-business. This three phased initiative, will include a set-up of an E-Commerce Information Center within ACI and an E-Commerce Conference to be held in June 2001.

On Sunday December 17, 2000 King Abdullah opened an Information Technology Community Centre (ITCC) at the Queen Alia Center for Social Work in Tafileh. The ITCC center is the second of its kind and one of 500 IT centers that will be established in distant areas and the Badia region with a comprehensive national strategy designed to help all Jordanians wherever they are to benefit from high tech in the field of information technology. The ITCC center was designed to provide training on basic computer and Internet skills, with special emphasis on supporting income-generating activities as well as creating an Internet-literate population, particularly among youth and women. ITCC’s aim is to build the capacity of local communities across the Kingdom by introducing electronic commerce, distance learning and, eventually, to make electronic government a reality. Last October the King opened a similar center in Safawi in north eastern Badia and ordered the formation of a Royal Commission headed by Education Minister Khalid Touqan, to expand the reach of information and communications technology in the Kingdom. The Royal Commission includes the Naltional Information Centre, Ministry of Planning, Jordan Badia Research and Development Programme and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

A number of conferences, workshops and seminars have been held in Jordan to promote IS stimulation and IT development. One of the biggest and most significant events for Jordan, was the IT forum held at the Dead Sea in March of this year which brought together international and local companies in order to boost Jordan’s IT industry. Jordan has also held a seminar on intellectual property rights and regional conference on electronic trade and intellectual property rights. Other conferences/exhibitions and seminars include:

• METS (Middle East Technology Show) Exhibition for Information and Communications Technologies is held annually in Amman in early autumn and organized by the Jordan Computer Society. METS is the country's biggest IT event a full spectrum of IT technologies and markets is presented by IT experts, professionals and business people.
• The American Computer Show is also hosted in Amman once a year to promote American computer companies and their products to the Jordanian market. The American Computer Show is an annual trade show organized by the American Business Center (ABC) of the American Embassy in Jordan, displaying the broadest range of computer products including software, hardware, peripherals, and accessories.
• MEXCOM is Jordan’s biggest annual telecommunications event. The 1999 MEXCOM Telecommunications Show took place in October in the city of Naour, near Amman. Several local companies participated presenting various products, ranging from cellular phones to satellite systems.. MEXCOM 2000 was held on September 5-8 at Zara Expo Center in Amman. This years theme for MEXCOM 2000 was " an office without walls in a world without borders" which reflected the tremendous advancements in various technologies for telecommunication. The Jordan Telecommunications Co. and Mobilecom who organized and sponsored this exhibition are laying the appropriate infrastructure to improve electronic trade and information technology in the Kingdom.
• The fourth Middle East Telecommunication Exhibition was held on Oct 5,1999 at Marj Al Hamam. A variety of IS "tools" was presented in this JTC-sponsored IT event.
• The 2000 Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT’2000) was held at Zarka Private University (ZPU), in Zarka, Jordan on October 31^st – November 2^nd. This is a new conference that acted as an international forum for scientists, engineers, and practitioners to present their latest research, results, ideas, developments and applications in all areas of computer science. The conference included presentations to 39 contributed papers distributed among 35 universities from 20 different Arab and foreign countries and three state-of-the-art lectures by distinguished keynote speakers in the area of information technology. The organizer of ACIT’2000 was the Department of Computer Science, Zarka Private University with Mohammed Al Haj Hassan as the head of the conference.
• The Specialized Technical Services (STS) Group, one of the leading IT professional services providers in Jordan, organized a seminar on e-business at the Jordan Inter-Continental Hotel on Monday May 8. Speakers from six leading international companies in the e-business arena gave presentations on the significance of e-business.
• A workshop on developing the use of technology in secondary education was held in Amman on Sunday November 19, 2000, with around 35 experts from 13 Arab countries. The five-day workshop on developing the use of technology in secondary in teaching, teacher’s training and diversification of teaching methods as well as international and regional cooperation in the field. Experts gathered from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. Other participants came from UNESCO, UNDP and the International Labour Organisation. Educators will explore ways of enabling youth to deal with technology in the "IT century".

The publications and surveys having played a major role in the process of IS development in Jordan were a study on the developments of the computer industry, and important policy paper on incorporating IT to improve the educational system, and a research note pointing out the potential for co-operation between Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates to attract IT investment.

In early October,1999 King Abdullah met with representatives of the country's software industry and listened to a report regarding a study conducted by the computer industry, about the development of computer industry its contribution in the transfer of modern technology to Jordan. Appreciation was expressed to the representatives of the software industry and also to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which helped finalise this study and the comprehensive plan which was drawn up in this respect. King Abdullah also called for the creation of a special fund for investment in the software sector so as to provide the necessary funding by the concerned companies in this sector.

A private-public forum was held at the Grand Hyatt, Amman in July 2000 in which the Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) launched its policy paper on improving Jordan’s educational system. This comes in response to the Jordan Vision 2020 (JV2020) initiative to redesign and implement a new educational reform program incorporating IT learning at an elementary stage. YEA has proposed an incentive for public school teachers to undergo computer training in order to facilitate computer use in the classroom.

Arab Advisors Group a regional new economy research and consultancy group based in Amman, Jordan has released a Research Note in the last quarter of 2000, pointing out the potential for cooperation between Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the field of attracting new IT investments and activities. The Arab Advisors Group has separately looked into each of the local markets of Jordan, Egypt, UAE, and the gulf at large, and produced extensive research reports the cover the Internet, telecommunication, and technology landscape picture of these countries, in addition to providing detailed projections on the size of these markets.

Both the private and public sector in Jordan have made extensive efforts and have partnered in stimulating IS developments through a number of initiatives primarily in the education sector, by equipping Universities and schools with computers, and in IT training. Additionally a number of large multi-national IT companies have become involved in Jordan’s IT development drive.

In terms of provision of computers for schools the following main initiatives have taken place.

• On Nov 2, 1999 the University of Jordan (UJ) has opened up computer labs to enable its students to enter the 21st century equipped with information technology skills. The project includes 18 labs, each containing between 20-30 PCs. The project is an initiative by UJ President Waleed Ma'ani to prepare the university and the students to enter the new millennium. Every student will have his own e-mail address and will be able to benefit from the Internet service.
• As part of her nationwide initiative to introduce computers and Information Technology to schools, Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday May 24, 2000 distributed fully equipped computers to Umm Habiba Secondary School for Girls in Wadi Seer. The initiative involves working closely with the Ministry of Education and with teachers to incorporate classroom computer use and to harness the Internet as a research tool. It also envisions that teachers would be trained on the use of technology and that IT would be incorporated into the school curriculum. The 21 computers were personally donated by Samih Darawzeh former Minister of Energy and present head of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, who responded to the Queen’s call to involve the private sector in the initiative.
• A 26-PC lab at the Amman Training Centre was inaugurated on Tuesday May 9, 2000 by the US Ambassador to Jordan, William Burns. The computers at the lab were funded with an American grant of $1 million. Students at the training center have a better chance to be e-proficient with a new computer network lab equipped with high-tech machines installed in their center.
• The Education Ministry received the first batch of computers given as a grant from Swedish Falcon Company the week of August 28, 2000. The Ministry of Education has commenced an ambitious programme to install computer labs in all of the Kingdom’s schools. 500 of the 4000 schools are already connected but at least 200 schools have computer labs with outdated computers that cannot run new software. These are to be replaced with the batch of 500 computers received from the Swedish grant. The ministry will also train, 80 teachers to receive the Oxford license. This certificate means that its holder is a proficient computer user and these 80 trainees will help train their fellow teachers.
• Her Majesty Quenn Rania Al Abdullah received Citibank Jordan’s General Manager Suhair Al Ali who delivered a cheque of $35,000 in support of three technology labs for the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) to cater to underprivileged children. The Citibank – JRF pilot project, which comes in recognition of the importance of computers and the Internet as a major educational tool in the 21^st century is entitled "Child and Technology". Under this project, three technology labs funded by the Citigroup Foundation will be placed in three JRF Community Centres in various parts of the Kingdom.

Public and private sector initiatives in IT training are as follows:

• The non-interruptible interest of Jordan to nurture its people with the latest in IT development, become more apparent in early July,1999 when Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and Cisco Systems, announced an agreement to create the first Cisco Networking Academy in the country as well as the first Cisco Regional Networking Academy. The Cisco Networking Academy programme is designed to teach secondary school and tertiary students how to design, build and maintain the computer networks of local, national and global businesses. The programme is designed to help students being prepared for jobs as networking professionals. Cisco Systems will train teachers from JUST in order to qualify as Network Academy trainers. According to the statement of the agreement, JUST, as a Cisco Regional Networking Academy, will recruit, manage and support 4-5 additional educational institutions in Jordan, as Local Cisco Networking Academies.
• The Royal Scientific Society opened on April 10, 2000 a regional training course in Information Technology. The four-month course is held in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency. It aims to upgrade and introduce new skills to participants who are specialized in IT.
• The Jordanian government and IBM have reached an agreement on April 20, 2000 to develop an IT training program for graduates in Jordan. The agreement was made in Amman in a meeting between Prime Minister Abdel Al Raouf Al Rawabdeh and J. Michael Lawrie, general manager, IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa.
• Sun Microsystems officials held two days of talks on June 10, & 11, 2000 with the government and the private sector on a three-phased information technology training program. The first component includes training in e-commerce for 14 professionals from the private and public sectors. The second component is the establishment of a training centre geared to training trainers. The competition is between the University of Jordan and the Princess Sumaya University College for Technology to which Sun has already donated 16 stations where students can train in Sun technology and obtain certification.
• MobileCom, Jordan’s mobile communications operator, announced an agreement with the Princess Sumaya University College for Technology that will see students receiving technical training and hands-on experience form MobileCom, paving the way for students who are looking for an exciting career at MobileCom. The agreement is the first of its kind in Jordan, while MobileCom plans to extend the same agreement to several universities in Jordan, ensuring that and increased transfer of knowledge and skills is accomplished. In August, 2000 Mobilecom signed an agreement with the University of Jordan to provide students with career development programmes that will help students develop technical skills and know-how to meet real world requirements.
• The Jordanian government and the American Near East Refugees Relief Agency (ANERRA) signed an agreement on Sunday September 3, 2000 whereby the agency provides educational and training services in the field of information technology to underprivileged groups in the Kingdom. The agreement was signed by Social Development Minister Tamam Al Ghul and ANERRA Representative in Amman, Thomas New. The agreement focused on IT skills and abilities to help qualify the needy groups and enable them to find the appropriate job opportunities. The IT project additionally seeks to establish self-sustaining centres of excellence to train IT professionals in several universities in the country. The centres will be composed of three elements: Training centres with professional trainers, proper equipment, state-of-the-art curricula and access to certification, secondly, a revolving loan fund that will help students in their training courses, and finally the formation of a job placement centre to help IT professionals find jobs.
• Around 1,000 aspiring IT professionals are expected to get an opportunity to benefit from a training initiative, as the Labour Ministry’s Training and Employment Support Project (TESP) and the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday September 19, 2000 on training job seekers in the IT sector. The memorandum stipulates mechanisms of coordination between TESP and INT@J which according to the documents is expected to play a major role in supporting and developing the private sector especially in IT.
• A $30 million project to enhance IT at Jordan’s state-run Universities and Community colleges is in the works. The project is part of the higher education development project currently being carried out by the Ministry of Planning. The ultimate aim of the project is to supply students pursuing higher education with skills and know-how in state-of-the-art technology. The IT component of the project has five sub-projects. The first is the financing and installation of a standard-based information technology infrastructure including hardware, software and applications. The second sub-project supports the design and use of modern management information systems (MIS) in decision making by the Higher Education Council. The third project will finance the development of an inter-university library system with the hope of increasing the overall efficiency of libraries in the public education system and facilitate access and exchange of information between public universities. The fourth component will support training for individuals who will be assigned as faculty developers in each institution. Finally, the fifth component will finance student faculty computers and network, professional and end-user training, educational technologies and human resources necessary to operate the new investment in IT.
• Jordan Telecom and Princess Sumaya University College for Technology (PSUCT) have signed an agreement under which the telecommunication firm will grant four scholarships in information technology (IT) to support the country’s modernisation drive. The agreement sealed on Tuesday December 5, 2000 offers a JD45,000 grant to cover two scholarships for students at the engineering faculty and others in the field. The agreement is part of the PSUCT’s plans to promote IT through interaction with both the public and private sectors in Jordan.