Day: June 20, 2021

Categories
Judicial

Moderate weather forecast in highlands, hot in other regions

A slight rise in mercury levels is expected on Sunday, bringing hot weather in most parts of the Kingdom, except in the highlands and the plains where it will be fair, with northwesterly moderate to brisk winds, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

Over the next two days, similar weather conditions will continue to persist with northwesterly moderate winds, the JMD added.

Daytime temperatures expected for today will reach 30 degrees Celsius in Amman, dropping down to 17C, while it will be much hotter in the city of Aqaba as mercury levels will register 38C during daytime, sliding to 24C at night.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Judicial

Israeli police arrest 11 Palestinians

Israeli occupation police Sunday arrested 11 Palestinian citizens in Deir al-Asad town inside the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab masses in occupied Palestinian territories said that the arrest campaign took place in the town yesterday, when the Israeli forces stormed a wedding party, assaulted the attendees and opened fire in the air, leaving a young man in his thirties seriously injured.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Judicial

First flight from Moscow arrives in Aqaba to boost tourism

Some 168 passengers arrived on Sunday in Aqaba’s King Hussein International Airport on the first tourist flight from Moscow, under an agreement to boost tourism effective till end of year.

In a statement, CEO of Aqaba Airports Company (AAC) Ramzi Arafat said that these trips are the result of the government’s efforts to resume global tourism after declaring Jordan’s golden triangle of tourism (Aqaba, Petra and Wadi Rum) a pandemic-free zone.

“Jordan has made great efforts to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on various sectors, most notably the heavily-hit tourism sector which is one of the main contributors to the economy,” he added, noting that precautionary measures have been taken to ensure the return to pre-crisis tourism traffic levels.

Arafat pointed to the full safety measures implemented during the arrival of today’s flight, which was operated by the Russian Nordwind Airlines, as well as the airport’s operational readiness throughout the coming months.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Judicial

Messaging apps to go offline in Tawjihi zones: TRC

Instant messaging applications will be blocked in all schools where students will sit for the Tawjihi (General Secondary Education Certificate Examination) which will start on June 24th through July 15th, according to a statement released Sunday by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC).

The TRC said it had already addressed telecom companies to enforce the ban minutes before the start of the examination and removes it shortly after students leave the exam’s halls, indicating that the move is aimed at ensuring the integrity and credibility of Tawjihi by preventing cheating or leakage of exam papers.

It said the downtime of messaging apps could affect areas nearby schools where the exam will be held, but nevertheless, it added, the block will be temporary and limited to the exam’s time.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Affairs

JBA chief: Jordan needs a national economic program to spur growth

Head of the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA), Hamdi Tabba’a, stressed the importance of launching a national economic program that suits capabilities of the national economy, adding that business community is “ready” to cooperate with the government in this regard.

In his interview with “Petra” on Sunday, he said the projected program should aim to support the economic sectors and help them restore their operational and production activity in their pre-pandemic period.

His Majesty, at his meeting with Royal Committee to Modernise Political System, noted the political path should coincide with a economic and administrative track, and directed the government to develop “a clearly defined” economic program within weeks, to be implemented within a specific timeframe, according to Tabba’a.

The King, he said, said the program should be carried out in partnership with the private sector to achieve economic recovery, achieve growth and employment levels necessary to stimulate economy, launch development projects, and improve services provided to citizens in a “tangible” way.

Tabba’a called on conducting a sectoral analysis with focus on the five most pandemic-hit sectors, which used to contribute a “significant and important” stake to the GDP, foremost is tourism that injected a “high” amount of hard currency.

The proposed program, he said, should include a set of short and medium-term goals, linked to implementation mechanisms within scope of the government’s capabilities, and shun “exaggerated” expectations about its outcomes.

The economic program, he noted, should keep pace with requirements of the current stage, resulted from the pandemic-imposed economic repercussions, which required resetting priorities and integrating economic plans aimed at achieving economic recovery, overcoming the current crisis and fixing economic losses on the various sectors.

The program should focus on the fundamental challenges facing the Jordanian economy, especially the “high” internal and external debt and the accumulated budget deficit, which limits the government’s ability to spend on education, health, public utilities, roads, bridges and infrastructure, according to Tabba’a.

The economic program should also include “practical” solutions to the poverty and unemployment problems, which hit 24.7 percent at the end of 2020, he pointed out.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Technology

Yarmouk, DKIT to implement joint bachelor’s program in hotel management

The faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management at the Yarmouk University and the Irish Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) on Sunday signed an agreement to establish a joint bachelor’s program in hotel management.

The program is the result of the Yarmouk’s keenness to forge partnerships in teaching and training programs with specialised international universities.

In a statement, dean of the college Muhammad Shonaq said that the deal will provide an opportunity for students enrolling in the international program to obtain two certificates; one from the university, and the second from the DKIT.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

Red Cross appreciates Jordan’s contributions toward Syrian refugees

Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) delegation in Syria, Philip Spoerri, on Sunday commended Jordan’s humanitarian efforts and contributions to aid Syrian refugees on Jordanian territory.

Spoerri told reporters at the ICRC’s Amman office that cooperation on humanitarian matters between Jordanian authorities and the committee’s delegations has been close and non-stop, appreciating the Kingdom’s move to create safe corridors that allow for the smooth flow of humanitarian assistance to Syria.

He indicated that the situation in southern Syria is now stable and that after the reopening of borders, these corridors are no longer needed. Speaking on the ICRC’s Syria operations, Spoerri noted that the committee’s Syria mission was of the largest in the world with a humanitarian aid budget of $200 million.

While assuring that Syrian was heading toward stability in military terms, the ICRC official warned that the country is now caught in the grip of economic deterioration exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, the failure to bring about a political endgame to the crisis and the ongoing international sanctions.

He noted that the war damaged 50 percent of the country’s infrastructure and said power and water stations are in need of maintenance and rehabilitation to prevent further deterioration.

With regard to the return of Syrian refugees to their country, the ICRC official briefly said: “We have put forward conditions that must be met in order for the return of refugees to be safe and voluntary.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

JBA discusses economic relations with Kazakhstan, Romania

Director-General of Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA), Tariq Hijazi, discussed with two advisors from Kazakhstan Embassy, and Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs at Romanian embassy, respectively, Ovidiu Costea, ways to enhance joint economic, trade and investment relations.

In two separate meetings held on Sunday, Hijazi agreed with the Kazakh side to establish a Jordanian-Kazakh business council, on the sidelines of the Jordanian-Kazakh joint committee scheduled to be held during the last quarter of 2021.

Discussions with the Kazak side also went over ways to enhance investment and economic relations between the two countries, and the JBA’s role in promoting the investment environment in Jordan, and attracting foreign investments, through joint business councils that gather economic activities from 30 Arab and foreign countries, according to a JBA statement.

Hijazi said Jordan has a “strategic” location that attracts investment in various “promising” fields, and political and monetary stability, which makes it a “safe and competitive” destination for establishing investment projects.

For his part, Kazakh Chancellor, Almas Bayshigyev, expressed desire of his country’s private sector to increase joint investments, especially in the pharmaceutical industry fields, by opening production lines for Jordanian medicines in Kazakhstan, and contributing to delivery of Jordanian products to non-traditional markets, through the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Kazakhstan is a member state, in addition to opening direct flights and exchanging tourists.

The volume of trade exchange between Jordan and Kazakhstan amounted to about $524k in 2019, while Jordan’s exports amounted to about $407k, according to gov’t data.

In another meeting, Hijazi and Costea stressed the importance of identifying economic sectors of common interest, creating new investment opportunities in various economic sectors, as well as introducing business communities on both sides to the most important available investment opportunities and proposed projects.

Hijazi said JBA seeks to activate the cooperation agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR), which was signed in 2013, with the aim of further increasing foreign investments in the Kingdom.

In turn, the Romanian diplomat highlighted “real” opportunities to develop trade and investment cooperation in the fields of food and agricultural industries, and information technology, pointing to the increase in demand for agricultural products in Romania during the winter season, which allows for diversifying volume of trade exchange between the two countries.

Volume of trade exchange between Jordan and Romania amounted to $321.9 million, while Jordanian exports amounted to $10.6 million, gov’t figures showed.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

Int’l response to Jordan’s needs for Syrian crisis under 4% – Minister

The international community’s response rate to Jordan’s needs for the Syrian crisis for 2021 were under 4 percent of the amount needed, said Mazen Faraya, Minister of Interior on Sunday.

During a visit to the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate, on World Refugee Day, Faraya stated such figures require a regional and international effort to ensure that the countries of the world and donors are encouraged and urged to abide by their duties, and provide the requirements for the residency of Syrian refugees so that Jordan can fully perform its humanitarian duties towards refugees.

Jordan, he pointed out, deals with refugees based on the well-established national principles on which the Kingdom was founded, as well as its humanitarian role in this area, indicating that the number of refugees in the Kingdom exceeds 3.5 million people, constituting more 35 percent of the population. He said that the number of Syrian refugees in the Kingdom is about 1.36 million, of whom 667,000 are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, underlining that Jordan is tops the list of countries hosting refugees in comparison to its population.

As some United Nations agencies and the World Food Program have reached a point of ‘exhaustion,’ Faraya indicated that this requires sounding the alarm and warning of the possibility of serious repercussions, which means that many people will lose shelter and will be unable to provide the basics such as food and clothing.

Voluntary return is the best solution to all refugee crises, he noted, adding that the number of refugees who returned since the reopening of the borders in October 2018, did not exceed 50,000 people, which calls for coming up with a comprehensive international plan aimed at providing the requirements for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

The minister said that Jordan continues to provide all the services that refugees need, stressing that the Kingdom is the first country in the region to provide an equitable rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine for Jordanians and non-Jordanians. So far, 20,000 refugees have received the jab, he indicated.

Faraya commended the efforts exerted by the directorate’s cadres and their commitment to deliver and provide all the services that refugee needs in various fields.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
General

Jordan celebrates World Refugee Day on Sunday

Jordan on Sunday is joining the world in celebrating World Refugee Day launched by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) under the slogan “Together we heal, learn and shine”.

On this occasion, UNHCR urged countries around the world to intensify their efforts to promote peace, stability and cooperation in order to stem the increasing levels of displacement due to violence and persecution.

The UN agency indicated that the number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations increased last year by 4 percent, compared to the previous year, as the number of fleeing people increased from 79.5 million in 2019 to 82.4 million in 2020.

Jordan had developed a response plan for the Syrian crisis to be aligned and complementary to national plans, and consistent with the sustainable development goals and the Global Compact on Refugees, while continuing to follow the approach that addresses humanitarian and development aspects of each sector, in addition to a special chapter for treasury needs as the plan extends over three years.

The plan, according to the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, consists of four main components: supporting host communities, supporting infrastructure, building institutional capacities, supporting refugees, as well as responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, as the plan includes education, health, water and sanitation, social protection, justice, shelter, public services and economic empowerment sectors.

The total financial requirements for the 2021 response plan amounted to about $2.4 billion.

The ministry said that the volume of funding provided to the plan until May 2021 amounted to about $124 million, or 5.1% of the volume of funding required for the plan, which is close to the proportion of funding for the plan in the same time period last year. Usually, the volume of funding for the plan increases significantly in December of each year after the United Nations organizations upload the amount of funding for the projects implemented by them directly on the electronic system of the Jordanian response plan to the Syrian crisis.

Source: Jordan News Agency