His Majesty King Abdullah urged Jordanian firms working in the information and communication technology field to effectively collaborate with their Arab counterparts in order to increase productivity and enhance economic growth.



"The challenges ahead are tremendous and we have a long way to go regardless of what we have achieved in policy-making, in capacity-building and in efforts we have exerted to make a difference in various sectors in Jordan, particularly in IT and education fields," said the King in the opening session of Jordan 3rd Forum for Information and Communication Technology.



The two-day forum, organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INTAJ), opened Tuesday at the Dead Sea resort with around 600 participants and communication experts.



King Abdullah mentioned some alarming figures in the Arab world. "If we put oil sales aside, the Arab region's exports are not more than 1.5 of the world trade volume" and only one young man out of three job seekers in the Middle East and North Africa can find a job in his/her own country. This percentage will go up to become one out of five by the year 2010 if the governments and private sector do not move faster to change such a situation, said His Majesty the King.