Eng. Bassem al Rossan, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology inaugurated last week the 4th General Assembly Meeting of the Arab Regional ISPs and DSPs Association (ARISPA), which was held in Amman, and was hosted by Orange Jordan, in the presence of Eng. Sami Smeirat, VP Jordan Telecom Group /CEO Orange Enterprise.

The meeting was also attended by a number of Orange Jordan's managers and directors in addition to ARISPA's board members-ARISPA's founders, representatives from the Arab countries.

On this special event, His Excellency the Minster delivered a speech highlighting ARISPA's important role in developing the internet and communications sectors, and its contribution in the creation of an Arab-developed industry in the ICT sector, thus contributing towards making the Arab world a key player and a major source for the outputs of this industry worldwide. 

At the beginning of the meeting, the members discussed and approved the agenda, and the General Secretariat reported its achievements during the H1 2008 and presented the executive plan of the projects to be accomplished during the H2 2008.

During the meeting, presentations were also delivered on the projects and initiatives launched as joint achievements and were presented and discussed by members of the ARISPA.
These projects included an experimental project on the development of transmitting the broad band internet services across the electricity network, in addition to another project of the INANA Group (Syria) on the establishment of a joint- Arab company for ARISPA members to provide the Sultanate of Oman with Internet Service Provider.

The discussions ended by reviewing the decisions taken, and the General Assembly agreed upon welcoming six new members from the neighboring Arab countries.

Eng. Sami Smeirat expressed his delight at Orange Jordan's hosting for the ARISPA meeting demonstrating that ARISPA plays a significant role in supporting the community and enhancing the development of the creation of an Arab internet industry.
This, in turn, contributes in making the Arab countries main contributors to the Gross National Production, thus, minimizing the numeric gap between the Arab and the developed countries,
Moreover, this will promote the Arab internet sector, pushing forward the development of the economic and social process, and building specialists cadres from the future generation.

Mr. Firas Bakkour, the ARISPA's Chairman expressed his delight at His Excellency's presence and support to the ARISPA's activities and inauguration of the General Assembly's meeting held in Amman. He also valued the JTG and Orange Jordan's sponsorship, stressing the importance of this meeting in liberalizing the ICT sector across the Arab countries to be at the level of the other developed countries.

Mr. Bakkour expressed also his hope and confidence in implementing the ARISPA's general strategy concerning the ICT sector, which was approved by the recent Arab Summit held in Damascus. 

At the end of the meeting, Orange Jordan hosted all participants over a gala dinner at King Hussein Club, where they got the chance to discuss several topics, and underlined the advanced level that Jordan reached especially in the ICT sector. The participants also highlighted Orange Jordan's achievements and the successive and the tremendous success that the Group was able to achieve in the ICT sector in particular, and the Jordanian community at large.