His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday opened the Computer Network Defence Symposium II held at Le Royal Hotel, with the participation of military delegations taking part in today's SOFEX military equipment exhibition.

Organised by the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), participants came from the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the US, France and the UK.

This year's session was held under the theme “Common Threats, Shared Solutions” with an aim to define threats facing IT systems and to work out joint initiatives to protect computer networks in pursuit of a unified regional IT defence system.

In his keynote address, HRH Prince Faisal, Commander of RJAF, reviewed threats to computer networks security systems on the global level, including classified government information, e-commerce, and IT infrastructures. He said the breach of these systems resulted in the loss of billions of dollars.

Before progress in the field, the Prince cited major obstacles as funding, the lack of vision and commitment on the part of governments and individuals.

King Abdullah toured an exhibition of network protection systems held at the hotel.

Also on Sunday, His Majesty toured the site of SOFEX 2002, which he will open today.

Officials in charge of the expo briefed him on the event, participants and the equipment on display.

He was accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. General Khalid Sarayreh.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah discussed bilateral relations with a number of heads of delegations participating in the exhibition, including UAE's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mohammad Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, South African Defence Minister Terre Lekota, among others.