Jordan A Pioneer
     Jordan is one of the nations where this change is evident. This week, high-tech executives from companies such as Microsoft and America Online will meet for a two-day retreat to discuss information technology. Jordan's King Abdullah, who has actively promoted the Internet's opportunities, is scheduled to attend.
     The retreat is just one of a series of steps Jordan has taken to woo foreign IT investment and use the Internet as a primary driver for economic growth. At the centerpiece of these efforts is Jordan's REACH initiative, which tackles everything from improving infrastructure to infusing technology into education. The program, launched in December 1999, aims to create 30,000 IT-related jobs by 2004. Jordan also has taken steps to privatize its telecommunications sector, enact intellectual property laws and remove customs duties on computer products.
     Marwan Muasher, Jordan's ambassador to the United States, said Jordan has been bullish about the Internet because technology has allowed the nation to capitalize on its educated work force and overcome some economic shortcomings.
     "A country that is poor in natural resources is given a new opportunity to prosper," he said. "For a country like Jordan, this is good news."
     In addition to Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, have launched efforts to boost their IT sectors.
     Dubai's ruling emir, Sheik Maktum bin Rashid al-Maktum recently set up a free-trade zone for e-commerce, technology and media. In October, Dubai announced plans to found Dubai Internet City where foreign companies will be allowed 100 percent ownership, goods would be exempt from customs duties and businesses would be exempt from taxes.
     Egypt also has targeted e-commerce and the Internet as an engine for growth. This Monday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, R, will speak to a cadre of high-tech companies in Northern Virginia about ways the private sector in Egypt and the Unites States can cooperate. Reema Jweid, executive director of the National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes the meeting will prompt Gilmore to lead an IT delegation to Cairo.

American Firms See Big Opportunity
     The willingness among some countries in the Arab world to push the Internet to the forefront of the national agenda has paid off. Microsoft signed a deal with the Egyptian government to boost investment in training programs for high-tech workers. Microsoft will provide Egyptian government departments with computer programs at discounted rates. And at the end of February, Michel Lacombe, president of Microsoft Europe, Africa and the Middle East, met with Jordan's King Abdullah to discuss Microsoft's involvement with Jordan's growing technology sector.
     Lacombe was quoted in The Jordan Times as saying that Microsoft and Jordan's government will work together as a precursor to future Microsoft investments in the region. "Both parties have a lot of work to do and are very pragmatic. We will define a very concrete framework with precise milestones. We are very excited," Lacombe said.
     In the United Arab Emirates, companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Netscape are participating in a UAE education program that makes technology training mandatory in secondary schools.
     And just last month, online broker DLJdirect joined with Capital Union and Webtrade eVentures to offer online brokerage services in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.
     Richard Holmes, president of the National-U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce predicted that more countries in the region will look to lure these types of investments, prompting more liberalized telecommunications sectors and making markets more transparent.
     "They are all going to be scrambling to get investments," he said.

Obstacles Still Exist
     But while some countries are courting technology, there are still technical and political obstacles to the Internet's spread in the Middle East.
     "Getting broadband capacity to wire these countries is the single biggest obstacle," Hudson said.
     Analysts also point out that poor infrastructure, high Internet access costs and infrequent credit card use could hold back e-commerce in the region.
     Haitham AboAisha, president of Sahara, an Internet service provider in Saudi Arabia, lamented that poor infrastructure and expensive service would stymie e-commerce in his country.
     "Today, the Saudi Internet user pays a high rate for lousy service," he said, explaining that a lack of competition in the nation’s telecommunications has contributed to the problem.
     Bruce McConnell, director of the U.N.-backed International Y2K Cooperation Center, explained that government-controlled telecommunications sectors are a common problem throughout the Middle East, adding that Internet content controls and a lack of transparency in some nations' business sectors also could stunt the Internet's growth there.
     A United Nations Development Program plan aims to tackle some of these issues, helping governments increase Internet access for citizens and improving infrastructure. One pilot project in Egypt provides access to the Internet in community and government areas. An upcoming venture will provide women in Saudi Arabia with opportunities to participate in distance learning via the Web. The UNDP also aims to help these countries develop local Arabic Web content to encourage more Internet use.
     Content controls also hold back the Internet's development in parts of the Middle East, where cultural and religious values often clash with the free flow of information. A Human Rights Watch report released last year found that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen and the UAE filter content through proxy servers that block access to certain sites. And a report released this summer by the French-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Boundaries) found that Iraq, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria were among the world's most restrictive countries when it comes to Internet access.
     Still, some countries in the Arab world have imposed little censorship on the Web and several reports have highlighted that Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are more tolerant of speech on the Internet than in traditional media.
     Muasher said the Internet has made censorship meaningless in his country and praised the fact that the Internet is helping his fellow Jordanians get better access to information. Although he acknowledged that with the Internet comes some unsavory material that can be offend cultural and religious beliefs, he said the rewards of unrestricted access are greater.
     "Every new technology brings positive and negative attributes," he said. "The positives out-weigh by far the negative ones."
- by Caroline Broder