AMMAN — Jordan has an advanced
ICT infrastructure that makes
it ready for “significant” digital transformations Minister of Digital Economy
and Entrepreneurship Ahmad Al-Hanandeh said on Monday during his participation
in the "Jordanian Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship" forum
in Dubai.
اضافة اعلان
Work is underway to digitize a considerable amount of
services that the government offers the public, he added.
Jordan News spoke on Wednesday to ministry spokesperson
Ibrahim Bashayrah to follow up on the minister’s comments, who said that
Jordan’s telecoms infrastructure includes “the fiber-optic network, 4G and 5G
networks,
cybersecurity, cloud platforms, electronic signatures, and open APIs,
among others”. The presence of this infrastructure legitimizes Jordan’s ability
to digitize all government services in the next few years as well as implement
the National Digital Transformation Strategy and the 2021–2025 executive plan.
The strategy, which was published last year on the
ministry's website, lays out the
government’s intention to connect all
government institutions, 80 percent of commercial establishments, and 55
percent of homes with the fiber-optic network by 2025. It also includes the
government’s ambition to achieve 50-percent coverage of 5G by 2025, create
28,000 jobs directly, and create 56,000 jobs through self-employment platforms.
Digital expert Mahmoud Al-Hariri believes that Jordan is
capable of undergoing this digital transformation. He told
Jordan News that “a
large part of the infrastructure consists of
human resources capable of
realizing this vision, and Jordan already possesses these creative minds.”
Hariri said that using the private sector, which is capable
of accelerating Jordan's digital development in many ways, is the quickest way
to achieve the ministry’s and government's plan. He emphasized that many
Jordanian techn companies have become renowned leaders in the digital world,
including
Mawdoo3,
Wajeez, Makani, and
Jawaker, which was recently sold for
over $200 million.
Hariri spoke about the successful collaboration between the
government and Mawdoo3 during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the creation of
Darsak platform, which was a significant leap in Jordan's distance-learning
capabilities within a short period of time. "This is the kind of
achievement that we want to see consistently and steadily; serving citizens
first and then supporting both the public and private sectors," he said.
Hariri also listed job opportunities that
digital transformation may provide, in addition to saving citizens a significant amount
of time and effort in completing their government transactions as well as a
variety of other business requirements. He cited the government’s vaccination platform
as an example, saying that it enhanced safety, and saved effort and time for
all vaccine recipients in Jordan. “It has been an important experience that
demonstrates Jordan's readiness to enter the digital field fully.”
Hariri urged continued work and progress in the digital
world. "We should not wait for another pandemic for us to progress and
develop," he said, adding that the period of health restrictions due to
COVID-19 was a test to Jordan's infrastructure, “when the country proved its
ability to stay abreast of international developments and meet world standards
in digital development.”
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