Public and Private sector executives will explore information and communication technology (ICT) related business partnerships at the Jordanian-Malaysian Business Platform, which will be held under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday, April 21, 2001.
“The Malaysians’ forward thinking ICT strategies have placed them on par with Western economies,” said Rifad El-Farhan, Middle East Communications CEO.
Middle East Communications (MEC), a leading ICT provider in Jordan and the region signed a memorandum of understanding, earlier last year with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC), a Malaysian government to develop and manage the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), which aims to leapfrog the country into the information age and transform it into a knowledge-based society.
The MOU provides that MEC and MDC will work together towards venturing on ICT opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region.
“We commend His Majesty King Abdullah’s ICT country building initiatives and look forward to extending our experience and services to Jordan through our joint-venture with MEC,” said MDC’s executive chairman, Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Othman Yeop Abdullah.
MEC has organized the three-day Jordanian-Malaysian Business Platform in cooperation with Musharaka Worldwide, a leading IT consultancy, in the hopes that private and public sector executives from each country will have a chance to explore opportunities and reach agreements.
“Here in Jordan, companies have been encouraged by His Majesty’s initiative and support. As such, I look forward to Jordanian companies benefiting from the Malaysian experience, whereby initiatives and partnerships can be based in the Kingdom and launched across the region,” Farhan added.
Malaysia’s MDC has embarked on the ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, corner-stoned on four key elements, a comprehensive cyber-law framework, world-class telecommunications infrastructure, streamlining of government procedures and top-quality urban development.
So far, the fruits have been receiving, support and interest from leading ICT sector firms such as Nokia, Intel, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, EDS Corporation, Lotus Engineering and British Telecom. It has launched seven flagship applications that have received international recognition and acclaim. These include the electronic government, tele-health, multipurpose smartcard, smart school and electronic business. The MSC status companies are now working with several countries to implement similar applications overseas.
Likewise, the Kingdom of Jordan is on a similar path. The Jordanian-Malaysian Business Platform comes as a continuation of His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision and initiatives to transform Jordan into an ICT hub, thereby attracting foreign investment into the country and creating job opportunities for Jordan’s talented and highly IT literate youth. His Majesty has organized the Reach initiatives to further develop this sector and adding a major driving force for the Jordanian economy.
The Kingdom has already privatized its national telecommunications monopoly, Jordan Telecom, which in turn is in the process of revamping the country’s infrastructure. Moreover, the country has established an information technology association to lobby and coordinate needed legislations and initiatives.
In the meantime, Jordan, already a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, looks forward to the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, which will allow quota free entry status of Jordanian products into the US. On October 24, 2000, Jordan and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding, which would make the Kingdom the fourth country to reach a free trade agreement with the United States after Israel, Canada and Mexico, and the first among Arab states. The FTA is expected to encourage Malaysian companies to establish presences in its qualifying industrial zone (QIZ) districts to benefit from quota free trade status with the United States. Moreover, Jordan along with 15 other states has entered into the draft pan-Arab free trade zone agreement. Bilateral trade between the Jordan and Malaysia in 1999 stood at $104.2 million, $35.4 million in Jordanian exports and $68.8 million in imports from Malaysia.
About the Jordanian-Malaysian Business Platform
The Jordanian-Malaysian Business Platform, under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah, aims at bridging cooperation between Jordan and Malaysia on the information and communications technology sector. The three-day forum will allow public and private sector executives from both countries to explore partnerships, arrangements and long-term commitments that have the benefits of economic development at both the corporate and human resources level as their goals. The platform will highlight the Multimedia Development Corporation’s ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor, involving projects in the fields of e-government, e-commerce, e-banking, financing, smart schools and telemedicine to name a few.
About MEC
Middle East Communications (MEC) was founded in 1996 by a group of Jordanian entrepreneurs to serve the information and communications technology needs of the Kingdom and the region. Middle East Communications recently restructured and streamlined its operations to allow for more organic growth by introducing new business streams, namely an Internet Service Provider; satellite communications; pre-paid calling cards, asset management (first phase tracking and second telemetry); an Application Service Provider to serve the needs of the growing industrial sector in Jordan and across the region; an IT training Center; managed communications and supply chain management; and unified messaging and pre-paid platforms.
Middle East Communications business streams rely on an array of strategic partnerships and agreements reached with regional and global institutions. Among the latest are an MOU with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) for venturing on ICT opportunities across the MENA region. Moreover, MEC has agreements in place with regional and global providers and vendors for communications and e-commerce related products.
MEC has an arrangement with Thuraya, a regional satellite telecommunications company, for the provision of an array of wireless telecommunications services in areas that do not enjoy the reach of GSM and fixed and wire-line services; an IT Training Center in partnership with Cisco Systems; provision of seamless, managed communications, support and applications around the globe via Equant Services and Solutions; technical support on a global level for unified messaging and prepaid systems provider Telemedia Networks; and lately an arrangement with TRINEC, a leading regional Application Service Provider, based in Beirut, Lebanon.
About the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC)
The MDC develops and manages the Malaysian Super Corridor (MSC) and is entrusted with ensuring the achievement of the goals of the MSC in, amongst others, creating an environment for companies and industries, national as well as international, to use it as a test bed for applications of information and communications technology (ICT) and multimedia in numerous areas including medicine, education, software, development, research and development, and the nurturing of small and medium ICT and multimedia enterprises by facilitating linkages to funding, market access, smart partnership and incubator facilities.
The MSC will be implemented across three phases of activity:
Phase I: Under this phase, the MDC will successfully create the Multimedia Super Corridor, attract a core group of world-class companies, launch seven Flagship Applications, put in place a world-leading framework of cyberlaws, and establish Cyberjaya and Putrajaya as world-first intelligent cities.
Phase II: The MDC envisages that during this period, it will link the MSC to other cyber cities in Malaysia and the world. It will create a web of corridors and establish a second cluster of world-class companies. It will also set global standards in flagship applications, champion cyber laws within the global society, and establish a number of intelligent globally linked cities.
Phase III: During this final phase, it is expected that Malaysia will be transformed into a knowledge-based society - being a true global test bed for new multimedia and IT applications and a cradle for a record number of multimedia companies. It will have a cluster of intelligent cities linked to the global information super highway, and become the platform for the International Cyber Court of Justice – Albawaba.com
Source: MEC Press Release
