Petra
The 23rd Jordan Economic Conference, held under the title “Innovation in E-Commerce,” launched on Tuesday with broad international participation to strengthen economic and investment cooperation in the Kingdom.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and the Minister of Labor, Youssef Shamali said during the opening of the two-day conference, which is organized by the Afaq Group for Media and Conference Planning, that the volume of e-commerce in Jordan is still below ambition, reaching about $788 million dollars in 2020, while, globally, the volume of e-commerce hit $5.7 trillion last year, including $37 billion earned in the Middle East and North Africa region.
In 2026, the industry is projected to continue its upward trend, reaching $8.1 trillion globally, including $57 billion in the Middle East and North Africa.
Shamali stressed that the government is working to facilitate the transformation of existing commercial, industrial and service institutions to adopt e-commerce, pointing out that the challenge is to accelerate this transformation at a pace that exceeds its current growth.
He explained that the factors for success in this field are many, the most prominent of which are: having a developed sector of communications and information technology, a persistent effort to shift towards the economy and digital services, the establishment of a supportive legislative and regulatory environment, close political and economic relations of the Kingdom with other countries, growing digital skills among the youth group in particular, and shifting toward a formal strategy for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship that makes use of technology tools in industry, trade and services.
He added that the government launched a national strategy for e-commerce in the first quarter of this year, and is looking to make Jordan a regional hub for e-commerce and online retail trade, thus enhancing national exports.
The strategy, he indicated, took into account the comprehensive e-commerce ecosystem, the allocated human and financial resources, and the necessary implementation mechanisms sufficient to implement it according to clear and organized legal foundations.
He stated that the government worked to cement this transformation through several areas, including establishing an advanced infrastructure for information and communications technology services and enforcing legislative tools regulating electronic commercial transactions that would provide a legal umbrella for electronic commerce.
The minister stressed that the government continues to cooperate with the private sector and the legislative authority in drawing up provisions that address aspects of e-commerce in existing legislation and proposing new legislation.
He said that the ministry has established a specialized unit concerned with internal and electronic commerce to coordinate with the national e-commerce work team, which includes representatives of the public and private sectors and civil society institutions, to organize, monitor and facilitate e-commerce procedures.