Planned Gulf Electronic Marketplace To Get Taskforce

by Lorys Charambolous, Tax-news.com, Cyprus

18 April 2001

The secretary-general of the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce, Mohammed Al Mulla, has announced that a taskforce will be created to oversee the implementation of the Gulf electronic marketplace. The new taskforce will be responsible for promoting awareness of the e-initiative, devising human resources training programmes and national incubator projects, and planning laws to regulate the industry. Once up and running it is expected that the electronic marketplace will become instrumental in other regional markets.

Speaking at the second Gulf E-Business International Conference in Dubai this week, Al Mulla said: 'We must examine all developments in the new economic culture to enable our region to avoid the digital divide. We must strive to institute logical solutions that catapult our region into the digital era.'

Abdulrahman Saif Al Ghurair, vice-president of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry which co-organised the conference, said: 'What Dubai is doing is not just for itself, but for all Arab countries which seek to develop themselves and keep pace with global developments.'

Abdul Rahman Al Mutaiwee, the chamber's director-general, identified the need for a common framework on e-commerce policy and regulations within the UAE region to help bridge the digital divide and promote the electronic marketplace to its full potential: 'The importance of the diffusion and use of information and communication technology as a powerful tool to increase transparency of government action and foster social justice and economic development is now widely accepted,' he said.

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