AMMAN -- Oracle Corporation-United Technology Solutions (UTS) and the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) on Saturday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting up a foundation for a strategic framework agreement that will be signed by the two parties later this year.
This agreement will establish a long term relationship between the ministry and Oracle-UTS and will entail adopting major Oracle products and services. It will also define and budget future procurement of Oracle products and services and their usage in government entities.
MoICT Minister Bassem Roussan, Oracle EMEA Executive Vice President Sergio Giacoletto, and UTS Chairman Akram Abu Hamdan, signed the strategic MoU on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
"This cooperation between the MoICT and Oracle-UTS is essential to building capacity in the Jordanian ICT market, a long standing strategic objective of the ministry," Roussan said.
The agreement will be fulfilled by UTS, Oracle's strategic partner for government. Abu Hamdan said: "UTS will bring about a set of added-value services which includes consultancy and training programmes that will enable the government to build capacity to reach a stage whereby the employees can self-support the installed applications and develop additional applications to integrate with the core Oracle applications".
The Development and Investment Projects Fund (DIP) has recently acquired 50 per cent ownership of UTS, which will assist the company in widening its scope of activities and initiating new investments such as the establishment of the Oracle Academy in Jordan and seizing other key opportunities in Jordan and the region.
Giacoletto presented this initiative to His Majesty King Abdullah in 2006. The Oracle Framework Agreement with the government of Jordan also entails the inclusion of all Oracle products within government entities, as well as future purchases of Oracle technology and application licences with preferential prices. This will enable the government to procure Oracle products at discounted prices with a simplified purchasing process.
Oracle will reinvest over $1 million in consultancy and training services and an additional $2 million in Oracle application licences to be utilised with upcoming key projects at various ministries within the government.
Oracle's commitment to the ICT sector in Jordan extends beyond this investment by continuously recruiting fresh Jordanian graduates who receive extensive training at Oracle offices in Amman. Trainees are later placed in the Jordanian ICT industry to support Oracle operations in Jordan and the region.
This ongoing recruitment and training will continue year-on-year to support local ICT graduates to be trained by Oracle and placed in the industry and consequently assist in reducing unemployment within the ICT sector.
© Jordan Times 2007
