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AMMAN (AFP) - A senior official of the computer giant IBM held talks earlier in the week in Jordan with King Abdullah II and Prime Minister Abdel Rauf Rawabdeh on ways of contributing to the development of computer skills in the kingdom.
Mike Lawrie, IBM director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, explored with Abdullah the possibility of providing Jordanian universities with software programs for advanced studies, the official Petra news agency said.
Lawrie then discussed with Rawabdeh how IBM could help computer graduates improve their performance and capabilities and it was agreed to set up a special committee to look into the company's proposals, Petra said.
According to a recent Jordanian study, 2,307 people a year earn diplomas in the field of information technology in Jordan but experts have said only a few are really prepared to enter the highly competitive market.
Abdullah is intent on turning the kingdom into a regional center for information technology firms and he chaired an international forum on the issue in March to examine how to achieve that goal.
Urged on by the monarch, Jordanian experts charted out an information technology development plan for the kingdom to turn Jordan's budding computer industry into the kingdom's third largest source of hard currency after minerals and tourism.
The plan dubbed Reach Initiative aims to attract $150 million in foreign investments by 2004, create 30,000 jobs and provide Jordan with $550 million from information technology-related exports
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