The Ministry of Digital Economy: 16 priorities within the economic modernization vision program

Al - Anbat - NEVEEN- AL- JARRAH 

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship has identified 16 priorities for implementation during the current year within the executive program of the Economic Modernization Vision 2023, of which 13 are under implementation.

The Ministry's priorities include: providing support for the electronic games industry and simplifying its procedures, supporting creative initiatives, developing an electronic platform for entrepreneurship, preparing an action plan to improve Jordan's rank in the e-government development index, preparing an action plan to improve Jordan's rank in the global innovation index, implementing the digital transformation program, Implementing the Youth, Technology and Jobs Programme, studying the quality of the user’s journey for e-services within specific criteria, and establishing a unified national registry for government services.

The priorities also included: completing the establishment of an organizational and technical test environment to adopt revolutionary technologies, introducing digital skills curricula for public school students from grades seven to twelve in vocational education, developing digital infrastructure for data centers and warehouses and the e-government cloud, establishing and attracting data centers and encouraging investment in Building global data centers in Jordan to serve the region and neighboring countries, updating and approving the personal data protection law, and establishing the open government data portal.

According to the ministry, the following main activities have been accomplished: completing a study of the gaming and electronic sports sector in Jordan, listing and documenting 2,400 government services provided by 52 government institutions on the ARIS platform, the government registry, training 56 government institutions on the registry, and preparing the peripheral services (APIS) necessary to publish Data of service cards on the websites, and contracting with specialized parties to carry out infrastructure development work for the leading centers, where a contract was signed with Migrate Company, and work is now underway to choose the appropriate location for the centers, while a service remains: digitizing 50 services out of 100 services that are under implementation.

During the current month of March, the work schedule of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship included: starting to study the best international practices on electronic sports and games, starting to study and determining the places that will be chosen to establish specialized centers for entrepreneurs in the medium, completing the digitization of 100 government services, and starting to evaluate the current reality of the service system. And starting the process of publishing the service registry and related data on the e-government platforms, and recruiting (1) data center in Jordan.

While the coming month of April includes: the completion of the study of international best practices on electronic sports and games, the completion of the study and determination of the places that will be chosen to establish specialized centers for entrepreneurs in the middle, the start of preparing the infrastructure for centers specialized in serving entrepreneurs in the middle, and the start of the digitization of 170 government services, and 980 beneficiaries of employable digital skills training to report income opportunities, including 250 women and 173 Syrians.

It also includes the introduction of new or improved government services, the registration of 400,000 operations related to youth and technology, $1.4 million in new investment from the private sector in expanding information technology operations, contributions to digital skills development activities, investment in expanding the activities of startups and digital platforms, and initiating support for 25 start-up companies in the field of business, including 15 Jordanian women-owned companies, 5 Syrian-owned companies, re-evaluating the criteria for the user’s journey of electronic services, adopting standards and adding them to digital transformation bids for the development of electronic services, and starting preparing work guides for the regulatory framework for the testing environment isolated, and start the procedures for attracting (1) data center in Jordan.

It is noteworthy that the executive program for the vision of economic modernization confirmed that the government will start preparing and implementing initiatives for future services related to the services of the information and communication technology sector, most notably improving Jordan's rank in international reports, providing automated and digitized government services, and enhancing investment in telecommunications services.

The government's executive program for future services included 30 initiatives, which will be implemented through 75 priorities, with a total cost during the years 2023-2025 amounting to 232 million dinars, of which 52 million dinars during the current year.

The executive program approved by the government includes improving Jordan's rank in international reports by implementing an action plan to improve Jordan's rank in the e-government development index, and implementing an action plan to improve Jordan's rank in the global innovation index under the responsibility of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship.

It also includes an initiative to provide automated and digitized government services by continuing to implement the digital transformation program under the responsibility of the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, continuing to implement the youth technology and jobs program, improving the quality of the user’s journey for electronic services within specific criteria, and completing the establishment of an organizational and technical testing environment for the adoption of technologies. This is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship.

The program confirms the promotion of investment in telecommunications services through the implementation of the fifth generation package under the responsibility of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and the private sector.