Doha: Cisco yesterday lauded Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan for their ability to use ICT to drive growth and enhance social and economic well-being.
The countries recently recorded strong showings in the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2014, sponsored by Cisco, which measures the capacity of 148 economies to leverage ICT for growth and economic and social transformation.
“The GCC is showing strong ICT leadership, with Qatar in particular standing out for its drive and focus,” said Tarek Ghoul, General Manager, Cisco Gulf, Levant and Pakistan.
According to the report, Qatar’s ranking of 23rd overall in the Networked Readiness Index is the highest in the Arab world. In the past year, the country has continued to improve and upgrade its ICT infrastructure (where it ranks 31st) and uptake (18th), thanks to a decisive effort led by the government’s strong vision (3rd) that has identified ICT as one of the key industries that will diversify the local economy and boost the productivity of all sectors.
Qatar is also among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of Internet users (9th) and households having access to a computer (8th) and Internet connection (10th), which has become almost universal and has helped to achieve very high social impacts (8th).
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