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Proper use of ICT can expand Lebanon's GDP by 30 percent, says PCA chief

13 March 2010

BEIRUT: Gabriel Deek, president of the Professional Computer Association (PCA), urged the government Friday to support the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sector in Lebanon which can contribute, if heavily used, to a 30 percent growth in GDP.

“The impact of ICT is extremely important in the development of communities which also leads to the development of local economies,” Deek said.

“One of our main goals actually is to increase the competitiveness of the ICT sector in Lebanon to be able to better compete on a regional and international level. This is why we have to better understand the regional demand and how to address those markets,” he said.

Deek stressed the need to understanding that other countries buy most of their needs from the people they know.

“It is important to understand this point if we want to export. Thus, we need to partner with local people or we need to base ourselves in other countries on a permanent basis for us to start being known. Otherwise we won’t be able to sell,” he said.

His remarks came during a conference organized by the Arab ICT organization Ijma3 in collaboration with USAID, PCA and the academy for education development. Dubbed “Regional ICT competitiveness survey and ICT public policy workshop,” the conference was held at the Metropolitan Hotel in Beirut and aimed at discussing the challenges facing the ICT sector in Lebanon.

Senior representatives from Lebanese telecommunications firms met to develop a new comprehensive strategy for the growth of their sector.

Deek said that ICT is one of the main industries in Lebanon especially at the level of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which include 650 firms.

“This industry plays a great role in the success of a number of other industries such as banking, tourism organizations, media and others,” he said. “This gives a great support to the economy in general.”

A study was distributed during the conference by Ijma3 including a survey about the ICT sector in Lebanon. The study aims at drawing a general view of the survey’s result and giving a picture about this sector in Lebanon.

Deek said that the survey conducted by Ijma3 along with the workshop will help in ensuring that future policies are clear, focused, and backed up by robust market intelligence.

The survey results stated that 100 percent of respondent firms in Lebanon signaled a strong engagement with ICT in their operations. It added that in terms of suppliers, 70 percent of the ICT purchases are sourced domestically.

“This is a tremendous vote of confidence in Lebanese suppliers,” said Deek. Even more important, the survey added, all respondents were “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with current domestic suppliers, including 30 percent “very satisfied.”

However, Deek said the Lebanese have also built on their perception of the strong regional role that the Lebanese ICT firms have.

“We have a perception in our minds that we are quite active, strong and dynamic, and that we have a prominent role in the region, but this is not right. We have a higher potential to grow than the real performance that we have today,” he said. Deek cited the outcome of the study as evidence which showed countries like Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Sudan relying heavily on domestic suppliers.

The International Telecommunication Union’s 2010 Information & Communication Technology Development Index in 159 countries ranked Lebanon in 82nd place worldwide and ninth among 19 Arab states, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.

The index quantifies and tracks the digital divide among economies and measures a country’s progress toward becoming an information society. The index is a composite of three sub-indices that measure the level of access, usage and skills of ICT.

According to the report, Lebanon scored 3.17 points, up by 5 percent from the previous survey and constituted the 14th highest growth rate among Arab states. It said Its score came below the global average of 3.58 points and the UMICs’ average of 4.18 points, but above the Arab average of 3.11 points.

Denise Herbol, the USAID Lebanon mission director, confirmed the agency’s commitment to support private sector activities that translate into action.

“Today’s event is valuable because it allows all of you a platform to discuss and develop a national ICT public policy document, a strategic blueprint that can assist in developing public policy,” he said.

On the other hand, Telecoms Minister Charbel Nahas said that the private sector and civil society, in dialogue with governments, have an important consultative role to play in devising national e-strategies.

Nahas said the production of the people working in the field of telecommunications represents only a small percentage of the ICT services consumption in the other economic sectors. “The ICT sector is very small in Lebanon and it does not include commercial activities related to electronics sales,” he said.

He said family-owned businesses are too small to be able to satisfy demand in this field and that this is why people go to foreign markets. He also criticized the poor management prevailing in the public sector and the bad financial administration that led to the accumulation of public debt in the country.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2010.