Welcoming remarks
Mr. Luc Stevens
UN Resident Coordinator
UNDP Resident Representative
National Launch of the UNDP-ICTDAR Small and Medium Enterprise Toolbox
Amman, Jordan, 13 November 2007
Your Excellency, Ms. Suhair Al Ali
Mr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh
Mr. Ziad Haddara,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and welcome you all to this important event in which we are launching nationally a toolbox, which is designed to enhance the capacity of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
This toolbox is sponsored by ICTDAR, UNDP’s regional programme for Information and Communications Technology development in the Arab States in partnership with TAGI. Earlier this year, in April, we had our official regional launch. Today we are happy to focus on the national priorities and partners.
With the increased need for public and private partnerships and the role that the private sector plays in development, the support for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises becomes indispensable. Support to growth and competitiveness for SME is especially important in a country like Jordan, where the majority of its businesses is composed of either micro, small or medium enterprises.
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are the engines of growth and bring the potential for expanding employment opportunities for Jordanian men and women. We are all glad to see that Jordan has made concerted efforts to boost investment and promote the expansion and development of such enterprises. In addition, the National Agenda of Jordan reiterated the need for continued support to enhance the capacity of the micro and SMEs in the country.
We at the United Nations Development Programme in Jordan have contributed to these efforts as part of our poverty alleviation and social development programme. This fits in the UN framework to support Jordan in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNDP, in collaboration with ILO, supported training to start and expand businesses, especially among vulnerable groups. We have also supported entrepreneurship training both inside Amman and in other governorates. We all recognize the value of new technologies in development. Therefore, our programme supported the establishment of Centers for Information and Communication Technology around Jordan for training activities and we currently support existing businesses in local areas with ICT tools.
In spite of all the initiatives and progress made, challenges still exist including coherence of investment policies, flexibility of laws, expansion of markets and research and development.
The Information and Communications Technology toolbox that we are launching today for Jordan is an innovative and practical tool. All organizations involved in the Small and Medium Enterprises support can benefit from it as it is intended to help businesses to develop and prosper.
It is with pleasure that I announce that three of our projects in Jordan, EMPRETEC, Capacity Building for Micro and Small Enterprises and the Knowledge Stations will be benefiting from training and use of the toolbox by the end of this month. However, this is just the beginning, and we are hoping that more and more national organizations can make use of it which is the purpose of this launch today.
I would finally like to thank our Regional ICTDAR programme and TAGI and congratulate them on the preparation of this useful tool. I also thank the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation for having this launch today that will facilitate its roll-out in Jordan with the hope that as many organizations as possible utilize and benefit from it.
Thank you.