Interview with His Majesty King Abdullah II

"Jordan's IT sector marching ahead"

King Abdullah II of Jordan is very much the man of the moment as far as the Middle East is concerned.

Whether it be by way of a quiet word dropped here and there when political tempers flare up, or be it in putting forth a compelling vision of Jordan's future, King Abdullah's views have been much valued by the international, and regional, fraternity.

In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, King Abdullah offers his thoughts on some critical elements of that vision - the role of government in business, allowing competition, and, most pertinently, the role of IT- through the hugely ambitious ‘REACH' initiative - in pushing that dream closer to reality.

Manoj Nair: Your Highness, there is a feeling that Jordan's IT sector has not really ignited as much or as fast, as was originally hoped. Your comments?

King Abdullah: Considering that the sector is still in its early years of development, coupled with the general challenges currently facing economies throughout the world, I believe Jordan's sector is moving forward on very solid grounds.

On the one hand, I can absolutely agree that our hopes and expectations back when the REACH initiative was first suggested were high indeed, but that was done during the boom years where expectations of growth the world over were exaggerate.

In Jordan, we always set high goals for ourselves to achieve because we are confident of our abilities and we take the medium to long term view for our development as our young generation comes of working age.

Our achievement nevertheless has been significant. A number of laws and have been instituted as a direct result of the REACH initiative, setting the stage for a more favourable and competitive environment, one that will allow us to attract investment, protect intellectual property and develop a viable local industry.

This month, REACH is undergoing its fourth review. During the past three years, we have concentrated on building a lasting foundation to ensure that our ICT infrastructure, our legislative environment, our institutional capacity and our educational and training efforts, all align towards achieving our medium to long term national objectives.

Jordan's telecommunications liberalisation plan, which is unique in the region, is set to witness significant new developments in the coming fourteen months as we prepare to end the mobile duopoly and attract a third entrant, to be followed by similar steps in ending the fixed line monopoly.

A quick look at our current ‘Connecting Jordanians Agenda' is enough to give anyone an appreciation of the immense task we are undertaking to pursue the transformation towards a knowledge-based economy and society.

Perhaps on the face of it one might see that we haven't gone far enough, but there is no doubt in my mind that we are charting a solid path towards achieving our goals.

I always look to our private sector to drive and play a more aggressive role in developing our sector. I'm pleased we've got this far, particularly when you look at the situation in our region over the three years we've been working on this whole idea of driving economic opportunity through ICT.

We have done a lot. But let's go further, faster. Why not?

Manoj Nair: Selling off Jordan Telecom was a great step. Are there any further privatisation plans?

Not so much privatisation, because the major state owned asset in the ICT sector is Jordan Telecom and the government still has a significant stake in that company. But there are certainly plans to further divest government shares in the company when conditions allow.

We also wish to encourage competition and foster an entrepreneurial ICT sector that builds on competition and innovation. We continue to look forward to improving our access tariffs for telephony and data to increase penetration, especially of the Internet. So there's a lot going on, but it's more about competition now than privatisation.

Manoj Nair: You have been a vocal proponent of less government being more effective government. Are you finding that difficult to achieve?

I don't think that many people could argue with that statement. Change in government takes time, even when you're pushing as hard as you think you possibly can.

I'd like to see us investing more in, and broadening the scope of our e-government programmes so as to become a driver for our administrative reform as well, and given our budgetary and capacity constraints, we continue to make strong and tangible progress there.

So yes, changing the wheels and cogs of government is quite challenging, particularly when you consider the fact that government is a major employer in Jordan so you have to mix your desire for change now with an awareness of the social and economic impacts and responsibilities involved.

Manoj Nair: What is your vision of Jordan in five years as far as ICT is concerned?

There are, I think, just over 120 members of int@j. That's a small, neat ICT sector that I expect will continue to grow steadily. We will continue to focus on education and technology as our primary drivers for transformation.

During the next five years, I would like to see Jordan focus heavily on quality of product and service in all their forms. We will continue to build capacity that is aligned not only with the needs of our economic development, but also the skills required for managing change and growth, both at the enterprise level and within government.

I envision ourselves raising the bar to meet the more challenging demand conditions that we are likely to face in building a modern nation. I would like to see life-long learning become a permanent way of thinking in our society.

I envision a maturing role of our regulatory bodies, one focused on driving growth, openness and stability in our sectors. I would like to see R&D facilities sprouting in Jordan, linked to our universities. I'd like to see more software development, more young people finding jobs in technology, and to see bridges strengthened between us and all Jordanians working and living abroad.

I'd like to see all of that and more. I know we've got the people and the will to do it.

Manoj Nair: What are your plans for cooperation within the region?

It's something we believe is vitally important to us all and ICT can play a very critical role in catalysing an integration of efforts throughout the Arab world. Int@j is sharing practice with other associations and is moving towards exploring the idea of a regional software association.

We're moving ahead with an ambitious programmeme in e-learning that we've developed and will continue to develop in Jordan and with regional and international partners and today we're sharing this with countries in the region and throughout the world. We're looking actively and constantly at new ways to cooperate with our friends in the region.

Right now, our development focus is primarily on education and technology, and Jordan would like to open any channel to share this with sister countries in the Arab world and others throughout the world.