Jordan News UpdatesAmman: The State Security Court (SSC) on Sunday sentenced a man to 15 years in prison after he robbed an Amman bank at gunpoint in 2019.
The SSC found the defendant guilty of robbery, endangering public safety, upsetting public order, terrorizing people, and jeopardizing economic assets.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: A Jordanian parliamentary delegation Sunday met with the head of the Algerian People’s Assembly, Ibrahim Boghali, to discuss ties and parliamentary partnership.
Jordanian MP Mejhim Sqour, the head of the delegation, talked about the “importance” of developing parliamentary cooperation between the Jordanian Parliament and the Algerian People’s Assembly and continuous consultation on various issues, especially the Palestinian cause.
Sqour said Algeria’s efforts to heal the rift between the Palestinian parties to achieve reconciliation reflect the pan-Arab sense that the Algerian Republic enjoys at all official and popular levels.
He noted to the keenness of the Jordanian and Algerian leadership to increase cooperation and open new horizons for work in various fields, highlighting the “need” to reopen the Jordanian-Algerian airline due to its importance in promoting intra-tourism between the two countries, especially in medicine.
The Jordanian delegates commended Algeria’s position in supporting the Palestinian cause and support for the Hashemite Custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In turn, Boghali expressed the Algerian People’s Assembly’s keenness to strengthen relations between the two countries in various fields, praising the level of bilateral relations.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: A Jordanian parliamentary delegation Sunday met in Algiers with Algeria’a Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts Yassin Hammadi.
MP Mejhem Sqour, the head of the delegation, said: “We are proud of the Jordanian-Algerian relations whose foundations were laid by the leaderships of the two countries. We are proud of the Algerian people and their Arab leadership.”
Sqour expressed his hope that the Jordanian-Algerian airline would be opened shortly, as “Jordan and Algeria have tourism potentials that make them destinations for the whole world.”
The delegates and Hammadi discussed enhancing cooperation and investment opportunities at all levels and increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.
The meeting touched on the possibility of cooperation in therapeutic health, energy, cultural exchange, higher education, industry and technology.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Sunday said the US is determined to support rescue and relief efforts in Turkiye after the devastating 7.8 magnitude quake.
According to Anadolu Agency, Blinken announced his country on Twitter following a tour with Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to the quake afflicted areas in the Turkish state of Hatay to see the damage caused by the earthquake.
Separately, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced the completion of research work across Turkiye, except for the states of Kahramanmaras and Hatay.
The head of the AFAD, Yunus Cesar, told journalists that the death toll from the quake rose to 40,689.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: His Majesty King Abdullah returned to Jordan on Saturday after a private visit.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday said municipal and governorate councils are key to achieving development and a pillar in political modernisation, according to a royal court statement.
At a meeting with heads of municipal and governorate councils on Sunday, King Abdullah underscored the importance of cooperating with the councils, as they are the closest to and most familiar with the needs of the public.
Addressing the heads of municipal and governorate councils, His Majesty noted that for decentralisation to succeed, municipal and governorate councils are key, as they shoulder a major responsibility in improving the public’s standard of living.
The King stressed the need to support these councils’ roles across the various modernisation tracks.
In response to the heads of councils’ feedback on allocated budgets, His Majesty said capacity building of municipal employees will be central to the administrative modernisation effort, noting that decentralisation cannot succeed without the appropriate financial resources.
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh highlighted the central role of municipal and governorate councils in political modernisation and in Jordan’s overall reform.
The prime minister added that the councils play an integral role in defining areas in need of development in each region, stressing that allocating the necessary financial resources to their work with centralised oversight will enable them to achieve development objectives.
Prime Minister Khasawneh said the councils are in direct contact with the public through their services, adding that improving the level of these services is very important.
Deputy Prime Minister and Local Administration Minister Tawfiq Kreishan said the government is committed to facilitating the roles of municipal and governorate councils, which will positively reflect on the services provided.
He pointed to field visits conducted by the government to better assess needs on the ground, highlighting a number of steps taken by the government to improve the livelihoods of municipal employees and enhance their job security.
A number of heads of governorate councils expressed their determination to continue implementing projects to improve public services while distributing development gains.
They also called for rounding up governorate councils’ budgets, as is the case with municipal councils, to allow for the completion of projects, in addition to forming central tender committees in governorates to identify urgent projects, and follow up on implementation.
For their part, a number of heads of municipalities said the upcoming phase will witness further engagement of municipalities in local development, based on the needs of each municipality, in addition to the launch of capital and development projects, in partnership with the private sector to create job opportunities.
Citing recycling projects as a priority area, they highlighted efforts to digitise municipal services and to increase cleanliness, highlighting the importance of offering incentives to municipalities to encourage more efforts towards providing quality services.
Royal Hashemite Court Chief Yousef Issawi and Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan attended the meeting.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Munich: Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi Sunday said the Palestinian issue is “the central issue” whose settling based on the two-state solution constitutes a “prerequisite” for achieving stability, security and just peace.
In a symposium held as part of the Munich Security Conference entitled Shedding Light: Israel, Palestine and the Middle East, Safadi said the international community must act immediately to protect the two-state solution from the illegal Israeli measures that undermine it by stopping all actions and engaging in negotiations.
He added that the current situation is “dangerous” and threatens to erupt into spirals of violence, noting that there are efforts to prevent violence, for which “everyone will pay the price.”
He added that an “immediate necessity” to find a political horizon for negotiations to create an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital on the lines of June 4, 1967.
He added that improving the economic conditions of the Palestinians is a “necessity” to alleviate their suffering, but it is not a substitute for a political solution.
He said that this peace is a strategic choice and a regional and international necessity, and its only way is the two-state solution, adding that work for it must be launched immediately in light of the escalating tension, loss of hope, and the collapse of confidence in the feasibility of the peace process.
Safadi also talked about the “importance” of moving immediately to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
He talked about the Jordanian initiative based on launching an Arab leadership role that engages directly with the Syrian government to gradually move towards a political solution to the crisis that preserves Syria’s unity and integrity.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: Minister of State for Public Sector Modernisation Nasser Shraideh Sunday announced the priorities and initiatives that the government would work on for 2023 as part of the programme of the public sector modernisation roadmap.
Shraideh said in a statement that the government had identified 51 priorities for 2023 after taking the Economic and Social Council national dialogue recommendations. He added that the government had earmarked JOD45 million from the current year’s budget to implement the programme priorities.
He added that the public sector modernisation roadmap aims to improve the quality of public services and to realise an empowered and effective public sector.
He said the roadmap comprises three main axes: the services axis, which includes government services and digitisation, the institutional axis, which includes organisational structure and governance, policy-making and decision-making, human resources and institutional culture and the legislative axis, which deals with legislation.
Shraideh said the programme priorities include preparing an integrated map for donors whereby existing projects would be given to implementers and identifying what has been accomplished in each of the projects proposed to the donors.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday was briefed on the government’s priorities to implement public sector modernisation.
During a meeting at Basman Palace, King Abdullah stressed the need to move forward with a clear follow-up mechanism for implementing this year’s priorities, in coordination with all ministries and public entities, according to a royal court statement.
His Majesty said this mechanism has to work in harmony with the Economic Modernisation Vision to ensure coordinated implementation, adding that the transitional phase of merging ministries has to be clear, to avoid any negative impact on daily workflow.
The King urged building the capacities of public servants by enrolling them in training programmes with the local and international private sector.
His Majesty also pointed to the importance of direct communication with the public and swiftly responding to any inquiries that might arise, adding that decisions must have logical justifications.
At the meeting, the King was briefed on the government’s measures to implement administrative modernisation, while taking into account the input received during national dialogue sessions.
Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh gave a briefing on implementation priorities in services, legislation, and the institutional framework, as well as the programme’s action plan for 2023, which includes 51 priorities.
Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Public Sector Modernisation Nasser Shraideh gave a briefing on the recommendations of the national dialogue on administrative modernisation, as collected by the Economic and Social Council, which were taken into account by the government to identify the priorities of the executive programme for public sector modernisation for 2023.
Minister Shraideh also touched on the human resources pillar within these efforts and highlighted the components of the executive programme.
Source: Jordan News Agency
Amman: Guinea-Bissau President , Umaro Sissoco Embalo, on Sunday arrived in Amman on an official several-day visit to Jordan at the invitation of His Majesty King Abdullah II.
President Embalo was received at Marka Military Airport by Youth Minister Mohammad Nabulsi, head of the honor escort, Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) Mayor, Yousef Shawarbeh, Amman Governor, Yasser Adwan and a number of Jordanian officials.
Source: Jordan News Agency