Day: July 26, 2021

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi Monday met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt in Cairo and delivered his Majesty King Abdullah II’s letter on bilateral ties and regional developments.

Safadi, who is also the deputy prime minister, briefed al-Sisi on the King’s meetings with the U.S. president and senior officials in the King’s latest visit to the States.

President al-Sisi sent his greetings to the King and emphasised Cairo’s commitment to advance cooperation with Jordan, especially in the economic and investment areas.

He praised Jordan for its efforts in facilitating the Egyptian expatriates’ work in the Kingdom, highlighting the “strong” Jordan-Egypt level of cooperation on all levels.

The meeting discussed the trilateral summit that joined Jordan, Egypt and Iraq to bolster cooperation, and it stressed the need to build on the latest summit’s outputs that were held in Baghdad in June 2021 and to take measures that would ensure further cooperation between the three countries, especially on energy.

Also on the agenda were the Palestinian cause and the latest developments in the Mideast peace process as per the two-state solution and the resumption of negotiations.

Safadi noted the role of Egypt in upholding the ceasefire in Gaza and lauded Egypt for its initiative to rebuild the afflicted strip.

The meeting discussed developments in Lebanon, Syria, Libya and the region.

Safadi expressed Jordan’s pride in the “entrenched” ties between the Kingdom and Egypt and lauded Egypt’s development trajectory. He emphasised the Kingdom’s keenness to further its relations with Egypt through exchanging expertise and increasing investments.

In a separate meeting, Safadi talked with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on bilateral cooperation within the framework of the trilateral cooperation mechanism with Iraq.

The meeting also discussed developments in Palestine and occupied Jerusalem, in addition to efforts to rebuild Gaza.

They highlighted the importance of starting international efforts to reinvigorate the Mideast peace process and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the Jun 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.

They also voiced support for Iraq in its efforts to uphold peace and security and protect its people and sovereignty against terrorism.

The top diplomats discussed the latest efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that would give the country back its stability and preserve its territorial integrity.

The developments in Libya were also discussed, as they stressed the need to end the crisis there as per the agreements hammered out by the Libyans in a way that would ensure the expulsion of “mercenaries” out of the country.

Shoukry briefed Safadi on the Renaissance Dam developments, as the latter reiterated Jordan’s “unflagging” support for Egypt’s position to reach an agreement that would ensure fair distribution of the Nile River water amongst all concerned parties.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh Monday attended the signing ceremony of an agreement to launch a $85 million phosphate washing plant in Shidiya in Ma’an Governorate, which was sealed by the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company and Ideal Development for Manufacturing Industries Company.

The plant, with an annual capacity of 1.9 million tons of high-quality phosphate, is expected to be up and running in 23 months and will create 200 direct and 2,000 indirect job opportunities.

The Prime Minister said that his government had to deal with exceptional circumstances in the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, which hit hard the global economy and also affected the national economy after a difficult decade which saw a bare 2% growth rate, a modest figure compared with the years before.

The pandemic, he said, hit the daily lives of citizens and the various economic sectors, voicing the hope that “we are on the road to full recovery from this pandemic,” urging the public to take the vaccines and adhere to public health and safety requirements “to keep the policy of openness and to see such partnerships and ambitious projects as the one we signed today.”

The Prime Minister said that the government has challenges with regard to employment in the public sector, which no longer can accommodate the growing number of job-seekers, adding that “we cannot overcome the challenges of unemployment and poverty and achieve sustainable economic development without empowering the private sector and enhancing its partnership with the public sector.”

He said that enhancing the public-private sector partnership and addressing problems and obstacles facing investors is a top priority, adding that the government will soon send to His Majesty King Abdullah II an economic priority work programme within a matrix that will take into account the necessary funding for viable projects.

Source: Jordan News Agency

President of Lebanon Michel Aoun Monday entrusted former premier Najib Mikati to form a new cabinet after the acting prime minister failed to form one.

The Lebanese Parliament voted in favour of entrusting Najib Mikati to form a cabinet by a vote of 73.

Source: Jordan News Agency

COVID-19 killed eight people in Jordan in the last 24 hours, as the death toll stands at 9,971, and a total of 1,131 cases were recorded, pushing the caseload to some 766,110, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

The MoH said in a press statement Monday that 50 people had recovered and were discharged from hospitals while 67 others were admitted, as the total number of COVID-19 patients receiving medical treatment in hospitals stands at 522.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the Kingdom hovers around 8,420, it added.

Some 747,700 COVID-19 patients, including patients who had been self-isolating, have fully recovered so far.

It said 4.2 percent of the 26,550 tests conducted today came back positive.

Source: Jordan News Agency

A royal decree was issued Monday calling on Parliament to meet in an extraordinary session as of Sunday, August 1, 2021, to pass about a dozen draft laws.

These include:

1- An annex to the general budget law for the fiscal year 2021.

2- An amendment to the narcotics and psychotropic substances law.

3- A draft law on the development of lands adjacent to the Baptism Site.

4- An amendment to the companies law.

5- The draft municipalities and decentralisation law.

6- An amendment to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone law.

7- The anti-money laundering and terrorist financing draft law.

8- An amendment to the integrity and anti-corruption law.

9- An amendment to the labor law.

10- Amman Municipality draft law.

11- An amendment to the illicit fortune law.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The United Kingdom’s Heathrow airport reported a ?2.9 billion loss since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement on Monday, the airport said that the number of people who travelled through its terminals in the first six months of 2021 matches the number that would have been surpassed in only 18 days of 2019 traffic.

Heathrow’s revenue, the statement indicated, dropped from ?712 million in the first six months of 2020 to ?348 million in the opening half of this year. Meanwhile, pre-tax loss widened by 18 per cent to a little over ?1 billion.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Justice, in partnership with official bodies, specialists and international organisations, has drawn up a crime-prevention strategy that will serve as a reference in the Kingdom’s efforts to combat crime and recidivism, but it warned a whole host of challenges lie ahead.

The comprehensive strategy envisions an effective, potent and enhanced justice system that enhances the rule of law and meets its goal of preventing crime, public and private deterrence of crime and reform of criminals, it pointed out.

The strategy’s aim is an advanced, well-established criminal justice system that takes into account human rights criteria and the rights of both victims and criminals, ensures access to justice for all, and dedicates preventive measures to combat crime and recidivism through updating and modernising legislation governing criminal justice.

However, over 23 challenges and barriers lie ahead, including tying sustainable development goals with efforts to strengthen the rule of law, curb crime and achieve criminal justice, according to the draft.

It cited other challenges as promoting societal values and the “positive” settlement of disputes, upgrading the performance of security, police and law enforcement agencies as well as addressing the problem of overcrowding in correctional and rehabilitation centres, which lacked a proper health and mental health environment for the inmates.

It also referred to other hurdles as community awareness programmes, especially for young people, diagnosing and handling emerging types of crime and tracking the causes and drivers of crime.

The four-pronged plan envisages curtailing crime and taking preventive measures to confront it, strengthening partnership and cooperation with official and other institutions and civil society organisations in tackling crime, updating criminal justice legislation, improving crime-related IT and statistical systems and scientific studies in addition to enhancing and developing the mechanisms to integrate criminals in society.

The strategy was drafted based on a detailed statistical and analytical study entitled “crime, recidivism and confrontation strategy in Jordanian society” by a national committee headed by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Justice with the membership of ministry staff members, the Judicial Council, the Public Security Directorate and the USAID-funded rule of law project, Penal Reform International (PRI) as well as crime experts and the Ministry of Social Development.

The study included a number of inmates at correctional and rehabilitation centres in the Kingdom and recent Judicial Council and Ministry of Justice records and data.

Source: Jordan News Agency