Dubai, UAE, 24^th February 2003

Organizations in the UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait are set to have a greater choice in Internet solutions, with news of Netways tie up with Comtrust, the e-solutions business unit of Etisalat. The deal will see Netways, become a fully signed up member of the Comtrust Solutions Partner (CSP) programme, giving them the ability to market and sell the comprehensive portfolio of e-solutions, offered by Comtrust.

Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, General Manager, Comtrust commented, “Netways has impressed us with its experience and knowledge of the regions IT markets. With its regional network of offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and Kuwait, they represent a major force in IT service provision in the Middle East, and will prove to be valuable partners in our bid to educate the region in the benefits of an integrated e-business strategy. They will also provide us with the ability to increase our market reach, allowing more Middle East organizations to access our portfolio of industry leading solutions.”

Over the past three years, Comtrust has invested heavily in state-of-the-art facilities and dedicated workforce to provide the backbone for e-business infrastructure in the Middle East. Through its CSP program and its internal sales teams, the company is becoming a truly regional organization, supplying solutions and managed services to a variety of businesses, in many different sectors, throughout the region.

Mr. Julfar continued, “Recently Comtrust hosted an E-Business seminar program to business decision-makers in Doha, which represented the first instance of us speaking directly to our overseas markets. The tie-up with Netways will allow us to conduct similar exercises in more markets throughout the region.”

Netways is a leading, multinational e-solution provider company, and was the first organization to provide Internet-enabled technology to the Lebanese market in 1995. Its strengths focus upon e-solutions, Business Process Automation, Enterprise Application Integration, content management, e-business security, customized development and database systems, as well as a variety of e-business portals. Employing over 100 staff in Lebanon alone, Netways has a proven leadership in building various types of Web-based solutions in the Middle East.

Mrs. Roula Moussa, Managing Director of Netways said, “The deal is significant news for us, and it is a reward for the expertise and success we have achieved in recent years. Comtrust is the leading e-solutions provider in the region, and represents a vital partner with which we can leverage many e-business opportunities in the Middle East market. Currently there is huge demand for solutions and services to make sense of the digital economy in the region, and with our local knowledge, and Comtrust’s portfolio of products, we can provide a comprehensive e-offering to the market.”