Day: January 9, 2022

A parliamentary delegation, chaired by Lower House speaker, Abdul Karim Dughmi, arrived Sunday in Manama, upon an official invitation by Speaker of Bahrain Council of Representatives, Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal.

The parliamentary delegation on Monday will hold official talks, at the Bahraini Parliament headquarters, and meet with Bahraini officials, a Lower House statement said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The government is pushing on at a “steady and real” pace, in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah II’s directives and visions to enter the state’s 2nd centennial with plans aimed to modernize Jordan’s political system, develop the public sector, carry out necessary economic reforms and address major challenges, primarily poverty and unemployment, Prime Minister, Dr. Bishr Khasawneh, said Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference held Sunday, at the Prime Ministry, in the presence of a number of ministers, the PM announced new government measures to promote customs reforms and launch 5G mobile infrastructure services in the telecom sector, in addition to enhancing employment opportunities.

The PM also said the first mechanisms of political modernization in the state’s 2nd centennial was His Majesty King Abdullah II’s decision to form the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System (RCMPS).

In addition, the PM affirmed that the government adhered to the Royal “guarantee” by sending the two bills related to political parties and elections and the related constitutional amendments to the Lower House of Representatives, adding that the government added some constitutional amendments before sending the package to the Lower House.

The PM said the constitutional amendments, which were endorsed by the Lower House during the past week, aim to “achieve a leap in the Kingdom’s political modernization process,” leading to a three-phase parliament with partisan majorities.

After three electoral rounds, it is expected that political parties will have 65 seats in the Lower House, within an “empowering” framework for women and youth, according to the texts of the two draft laws related to political parties and elections, which will be debated by the Parliament, according to the legislative and constitutional track, the PM added.

The recently-approved constitutional amendments reduced the age of candidacy to 25 years, which reflects belief in the young generation to handle parliamentary work and also aims to reach partisan governments, “to enable the partisan majority to form governments within a public system that maintains the rights of the political majority,” according to Khasawneh.

In a related context, he referred to the diverse economic and administrative reforms, adding that public sector’s development constitutes a “necessary and essential” leverage for modernization of political life and economic reforms.

The government, he said, has recently formed a Public Sector Modernization Committee, comprised of group of ministers and a number of institutional work experts, meets on a regular basis at the Prime Ministry, and seeks to to review the necessary legislation that enables and modernizes the public sector.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday commended the role of the trade sector in the national economy’s growth and job creation, as it complements other sectors, especially the industrial sector.

At a meeting with representatives from the trade sector at Al Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah pointed to economic reform efforts to facilitate doing of business through the development of trade-related legislation and procedures to increase competitiveness.

During the meeting, attended by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, His Majesty stressed the importance of the trade sector in securing the strategic stockpile of basic commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure food security, noting an opportunity to put Jordan on the food security map, in coordination with a number of neighbouring and friendly countries.

For his part, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said the Cabinet has revamped customs tariff regulations to include only four categories, a step that will positively affect the trade sector and enhance consumers’ purchasing power.

The customs tariff will be decreased to 5 per cent on most imports that are not locally available, according to Khasawneh, who added that a number of economic establishments now benefit from the unified licensing measures that process applications in one day instead of 15 days.

The prime minister said the labour and environment ministries are working on developing an inspection system that will include nine different oversight entities, in order to unify inspection efforts and reduce overlap.

He added that the trade sector employs nearly 500,000 workers, making up around 40 per cent of the working force in Jordan.

Prime Minister Khasawneh stressed that the private sector is a key partner in economic development, creating jobs, and enhancing competiveness, saying that the government aims to cooperate with the sector.

Praising the government’s recent decision to restructure customs tariffs, reducing duties on many goods and limiting tariff categories to four instead of 11, the attendees highlighted the importance of teamwork between the government and the private sector.

Attendees said economic reforms, which include reducing customs duties and unifying procedures at border crossings under the umbrella of the Jordan Customs Department, will streamline procedures, underscoring the need for consistent regulations to further reassure investors.

Speakers at the meeting noted that the trade sector is the largest provider of employment and the biggest contributor to the gross domestic product.

They urged the government to adopt special legislation to support start-ups and small businesses and protect family-owned companies, calling for a partnership between the Central Bank of Jordan and currency exchange businesses, and stressing the need to regulate online marketing and seasonal sale periods.

Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan, Finance Minister Mohamad Al Ississ, and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Supply Yousef Shamali attended the meeting.

Source: Jordan News Agency