Day: July 29, 2021

Lower House Speaker Abdel Muneim al-Odat, on Thursday, met with Director General of Economic and Social Association of Retired Servicemen and Veterans retired Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Shoubaki.

The meeting touched a number of projects related to the association, where al-Odat voiced his commitment to conveying all the needs raised by al-Shoubaki to the government.

Al-Shoubaki reviewed the association’s projects and challenges facing them in light of the current economic situation and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He praised the Lower House’s role in supporting a wide range of national issues, namely, those related to the retired servicemen and veterans.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Minister of State for Media Affairs, Sakher Dudin, sponsored graduation ceremony of 15 participants in the comprehensive media training program organized by Jordan Media Commission (MC).

Dudin, who is also the government’s official spokesperson, stressed the importance of the program in developing governmental and private media work and enhancing journalists’ capabilities to keep pace with the recent media developments worldwide, and to have access to “enabling” media based on correct storytelling from the right source.

The minister said enhanced journalists’ capabilities contribute to benefiting society and positive media coverage, underlining the importance of the media’s role and the possibility to contribute to various media activities within Jordan’s media literacy project.

Media curricula will be taught during the next academic year in schools countrywide, with the aim of contributing to building students’ concepts of critical thinking and exposing dangers of rumors, Dudin told the media audience.

For his part, MC’s Director General, Tariq Abu Ragheb, said media training courses and programs contribute to developing the participants’ performance within the legal and professional context, in addition to opening “new” horizons for the media community and facilitating their access to information.

On future plans, the MC will continue to hold training programs and courses aimed at the media sector, which would contribute to developing journalism and raise its level, he pointed out.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II on Thursday inaugurated the second phase of the Aqaba grain silos expansion project, which enhances the competitiveness of the Aqaba port as an export hub.

Crown Prince Al Hussein stressed the need to sustain Jordan’s strategic grain reserves, and set mechanisms for re-exporting in line with the highest standards of professionalism and flexibility.

His Royal Highness was briefed on the project, whose expansion increased storage capacity from 100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes, and extended storage validity period.

The project’s expansion, which is owned by the Aqaba Development Corporation and operated by the Jordan Silos and Supply General Company, enhances the port’s competitiveness as a regional hub for re-exporting grains, and speeds up work by minimising mooring duration from 10 days to three days.

The expansion included building two 250-metre-long piers that are allocated for silos and allow handling two ships at the same time, establishing six loading stations equipped with automatic filling systems, and installing a two-sided conveyor belt and a machine to transport grains from silos to the port for exporting purposes.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Chief Commissioner Nayef Bakhit and a number of officials attended the inauguration.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Hneifat, stressed the continued cooperation with the World Food Program (WFP) in implementing the action plan for the national strategy for food security and plans to deal with climate change and the expansion of afforestation.

Hneifat referred to the Royal directives pertaining to the file of food security and systems, indicating that Jordan constitutes “a good” opportunity for the international community to achieve food security by adhering to food systems.

Speaking at a meeting with the WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, on Thursday, Hneifat valued the WFP’s role and cooperation with the Jordan’s agriculture ministry in developing the national food security strategy and its action plan and supporting work of national dialogues to the UN Food Systems Summit.

Hneifat, according to a ministry’s press statement , spoke about keeping Jordan “a priority in terms of additional support amid the economic impact resulting from Covid-19 pandemic and the Syrian refugee crisis.”

Expressing Jordan’s “dissatisfaction with the reduction in aid for Syrian refugees, which coincided with the loss of many families of their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis,” he highlighted effects of refugee crisis on Jordan and water consumption, especially in light of rainfall decrease, scarcity of water supply and extent of the need for extensive water harvesting programs to address the drought situation in Jordan.

Hneifat pointed out that Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis funding and the international community’s contribution amounted to only 11 percent, adding that the Kingdom was the “most affected” by the refugee crisis.

For his part, the WFP director praised the Royal directives on food systems and security, adding that Royal ideas “serve the region and the world, not only Jordan,” which support ways of addressing food-related concerns within this “mature and long-term” vision and simulates development of the global food system.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II on Thursday chaired a meeting at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) to follow up on the implementation of the strategic plan for Aqaba.

Crown Prince Al Hussein was briefed on the steps taken within the first stage of implementation, which includes developing tourism in the city through low-cost direct flights to facilitate the flow of tourists, as well as launching a calendar of tourist activities and organising entertainment projects.

The plan also includes enhancing the investment climate in the city, and capacity building and skill development to appeal to the private sector.

The Crown Prince called for continued coordination among all stakeholders to ensure the successful implantation of the plan.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan, Finance Minister Mohamad Al Ississ, Planning Minister Nasser Shraideh, and ASEZA Chief Commissioner Nayef Bakhit attended the meeting.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Minister of State for Media Affairs, Sakher Dudin, said the government seeks to empower media spokespeople in ministries and government institutions through training, and enhance their presence in a bid to deliver information to the media and the public with the necessary speed and accuracy.

Dudin, who is also the government’s official spokesperson, noted the government is mulling an idea to link media spokespeople in ministries and institutions with Minister of State for Media Affairs technically and unify the government’s official narrative, especially on topics related to the state’s general policy.

The minister made the remarks at a seminar entitled “The Role of Media Spokespersons in Government Institutions and Media Education, held by the Faculty of Mass Communication at the University of Petra on Thursday, adding that mission of the “media spokesperson is no longer limited to gov’t ministries or institutions, but rather brings under its umbrella the majority of public and private political, economic and social frameworks and bodies.”

On warding off rumors and false information, Dudin said this effort could succeed by providing accurate and correct information to the media and citizens, adding that the government seeks to enhance the flow of information by developing a law to ensure right of access to information, which was submitted to Parliament, which offers proposed amendments that would constitute ” qualitative shift” in this field.

Discussing action to raise media awareness locally, Dudin indicated that the government seeks, through the executive plan of the National Initiative to Disseminate Media and Information Literacy for 2020-2023, to improve society’s capability to deal with information and news sources, and digital technology tools.

The plan, he said, aims to integrate media and information concepts and skills into the Jordanian educational system, within university and school curricula.

The government, he announced, is mulling plans to teach the media education curriculum in schools in the next academic year, and make it a mandatory basic course at universities.

The government is also working on designing training programs in partnership with a number of associations and institutions, such as the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS), UNICEF and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to train journalism and media graduates in Jordanian universities on media, health awareness, campaign management, and tourism media, Dudin told the attendees.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Jordan and Iraq on Thursday signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) in the social affairs and vocational training fields.

The agreements were signed by Jordan’s Minister of Labor, Yousef Shamali, Minister of Social Development, Ayman Mufleh, and Iraqi Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Adel Rikabi.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Shamali said the vocational training memorandum comes within the framework of strengthening the “close” Jordanian-Iraqi cooperation.

Shamali also stressed that the MoU also aims to raise level of the vocational training sector and align its outcomes with the labor market’s needs in both countries, by developing training curricula and raising trainer efficiency.

On the social care MoU, Mufleh said covers cooperation areas and expertise exchange in the fields of social affairs, laws and legislation, and launch of policies and strategies that govern action on care and rehabilitation of disabled people.

The Iraqi minister Rikabi, for his part, said the two vocational training and social affairs agreements aim to enhance joint cooperation between Jordan and Iraq, and exchange expertise to serve common interests.

On the vocational training MoU, said covers cooperation in designing and developing vocational training curricula and programs, raising trainer efficiency, exchanging related expertise, and holding joint seminars on related issues.

With regard to the social care MoU, Rikabi noted the agreement aims to exchange expertise and technical advice in the handicrafts areas, in addition to programs for productive families in both countries.

Under the MoU, the two countries will cooperate to hold exhibitions to display products of “distinguished” households, in addition to participating in seminars, conferences and workshops held in both countries in relation to women, according to Rikabi.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman Public Prosecutor has decided to bar the prosecution of a number of defendants against whom lawsuits were filed alleging involvement in a recent power outage at a central Amman hospital where two persons died shortly before and after the incident.

The decision was based on a forensic medical report and a report of a select technical committee of doctors and specialists who confirmed that the power outage had nothing to do with the deaths at the Gardens Hospital, the secretariat-general of the Judicial Council told Petra on Thursday.

Still, the decision will have to be endorsed by a higher judicial authority, i.e. the Kingdom’s Attorney General, before it is declared final.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Commissioner General for Human Rights, Aladdin Armouti, stressed the importance of promoting a culture of human rights and raising awareness of its requirements.

Speaking during his meeting on Thursday, with the Afghan ambassador to Jordan, Tariq Shah Bahrami, Armouti said activating international human rights charters and conventions requires entrenching them within national cultures and legislation, to become an integral part of the respective national legal system.

In this regard, Armouti reviewed the role of Jordan’s National Center For Human Rights (NCHR) in protecting and promoting human rights.

The envoy, for his part, valued the NCHR’s efforts to enhance the human rights situation and public freedoms in the Kingdom, in a manner that ensures the rule of law and preserves human rights.

The diplomat also praised the Kingdom’s supportive stances for his country, especially on human rights issues.

Armouti and Bahrami, moreover, stressed the need to maintain channels of contact and cooperation in a manner that would serve human rights issues in the two countries.

The officials also stressed the importance of enjoying human rights, in accordance with international standards governing good governance and the rule of law.

Source: Jordan News Agency