Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania al-Abdullah, on Wednesday, attended the opening session of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Forum "Mena 2014" which highlights the latest advancements in the ICT domain in Jordan and the Middle East and Africa.

On the sidelines of the event, His Majesty the King inaugurated a premises for the "Grow - Entrepreneur" initiative, which seeks to empower Jordanian youths and launched Eman1 project as well as the first Jordanian computer manufactured by Jordanian developers as one of the most efficient giant computers in the region. The forum’s main theme titled "MENA ICT Forum 2014: Disruptive Technologies," which are Technology advances that will improve life, business, and economy, and how they have the potential to alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools.

The two-day high-profile event attracts 2,000 industry leaders and experts. Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Azzam Sleit emphasized the importance of the MENA ICT Forum 2014 as it contributes to the development of the local and regional ICT sector. He said that the contributions of telecommunications and information technology sector in Jordan's GDP reach up to 12.8 percent, noting that 30 government and private universities add about 6,000 specialists in the local market each year.

He called on academic and research institutions in Jordan and the Middle East and North Africa to attach adequate attention to technologies that help bring change to people's lives.