Day: November 17, 2021

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the election system and electoral appeals for the Amman Municipality Council of 2021.

Under the system, the number of members of the Amman Municipality Council, the number of those elected and appointed among them, the conditions that must be met by the appointed members, their categories, and procedures for candidacy and election for membership in the council will be determined.

In a session meeting, chaired by Prime Minister, Bisher Khasawneh, the Cabinet approved an amended system for the administrative organization system of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship of 2021.

On a related matter, the Cabinet approved the general policy for entrepreneurship and the 2021-2025 national strategic plan and issued a circular to all ministries and institutions to adhere to it.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, met Wednesday evening with a number of beneficiaries from the Prince Foundation’s programs in Jordan, which is implements in partnership with the King Abdullah II Fund For Development (KAFD) and the Injaz Initiative.

In the meeting, held at the house of UK Ambassador to Jordan, Bridget Brind, Prince Charles was briefed for to the young beneficiaries on their experiences and skills they gained foundation’s programs in Jordan and benefits that they achieved in their careers as a result of their participation in these programs.

Prince Charles expressed his pride in the youth and achievements that have been made, stressing the foundation’s keenness to continue and expand the partnership with Jordan.

Ambassador Brind underlined the importance of Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to Jordan, which coincides with the celebration of the centennial of the establishment of the Jordanian state and the centenary of relations and friendship between the two countries.

In a speech at the meeting, she underscored the importance of the Prince Foundation’s programs in Jordan and their role in refining young people with the necessary skills and encouraging them to create jobs.

She noted that there are two main programs in Jordan: Tareeqi (My Way) and Business Challenge implemented by the Foundation in cooperation with KAFD and the Injaz Initiative.

Minister of Labor Nayef Steitieh said that more than 400 young Jordanians have been helped by the Tareeqi program, which is implemented by the Foundation in cooperation with KAFD, to obtain sustainable job opportunities.

Prince Charles handed over certificates to winners of a competition organized by the British Council in Amman on climate change.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has submitted a request to the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), asking a reassessment of the extent of its compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation in relation to relevant international conventions and standards at the “first possible” opportunity.

Jordan’s bid comes in accordance with international procedures after the Kingdom issued Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Law No. (20) for the year 2021, which was published in the Official Gazette on 16/9/2021.

The newly-endorsed law constitutes the main pillar in the field of Jordan’s legislation compliance with international standards in combating AML/CTF.

Also, a law had been endorsed amending Jordan’s Companies Law within the framework of the government’s procedures aimed to identify the beneficial owner and ensure accuracy of the basic company-related data, which is also an important legislation to proceed with the measures to request a re-evaluation on Jordan’s extent of technical compliance (legislation).

Head of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Unit, Samia Abu Sharif, said 14 out of 40 overall recommendations and international standards, which the Kingdom has received a low rating, will be revisited, according to Jordan’s request to MENAFATF.

Corroborated legislation and documents have been submitted to support the request, Abu Sharif said, adding that the reassessment results will be announced in May 2022, after passing the review and evaluation procedures related to the extent of Jordan’s legislation compliance with international standards.

This request is a step that is used to measure the Kingdom’s exit from the list of countries subject to increased monitoring known as the “greylisting,” which included Jordan on October 2021, according to which the Kingdom committed to implement an action plan of over a two-year period.

The National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism has approved AML/CTF instructions for implementing UN Security Council resolutions related to fighting AML/CTF and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which aim to address many shortcomings in this field.

In addition, a guideline for implementing the newly-issued instructions has been outlined and sent to Jordanian competent authorities and entities subject to the provisions of the AML/CTF law.

Moreover, several regulatory measures and decisions have been issued by Jordan’s oversight and supervisory authorities, which were presented as corroborating documents to the technical compliance re rating request.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, visited on Wednesday the Nuzha Center for Community Support and met with local community representatives and a number of refugee families.

The center is a joint venture between the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Upon his arrival at the center, the Prince of Wales was received by JOHUD’s Executive Director Farah Daghistani.

Prince Charles toured the center, specifically its UNHCR-funded learning laboratory, which is an educational platform that aims to improve the quality of education through digital learning platforms and other interactive activities such as robot making, chess and drawing.

Prince Charles also stopped by the center’s playground, which includes a host of motion and intellectual games for children.

On the sidelines of the visit, the Prince of Wales met a number of refugee families of different nationalities, in addition to representatives of the local community, who have benefited from the center’s services.

Since 2015, with the support of UNHCR, the Community Support Committees have successfully reached 36,000 Syrian and non-Syrian beneficiaries in East Amman alone. JOHUD’s ‘One Refugee-focused approach’ has been rolled out throughout the Kingdom, and committees that are open to all nationalities have reached over 80,000 refugees and Jordanians in over 20 different locations.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Two children of Asian nationality died after a fire erupted in two tents in al-Qastal area, south of Amman, according to the Public Security Directorate (PSD).

The PSD spokesperson said on Wednesday that firefighters and ambulance teams of Madaba civil defense department rushed to the scene, put out the blaze and evacuated the deceased bodies to the Al-Nadim Public Hospital.

“An investigation is underway into the incident,” the spokesperson added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Jordan-based commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider, Joramco, and the engineering arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), announced Wednesday the continuation of its maintenance agreement with the Irish budget airline operator Ryanair.

A statement by Joramco stated ” under the agreement signed in 2019, Joramco is to perform heavy checks on more aircraft from the airline’s Boeing 737-800 fleet,” indicting that the aircraft will arrived on November 1st 2021 to perform nose to tail, 11 and 14 years checks.

CEO of Joramco Fraser Currie said “we are pleased to continue the partnership between Joramco and Ryanair, which confirms that we are more than capable of providing first-class maintenance services to the satisfaction of our customers and airline partners around the world. We are honored that Ryanair continues to trust Joramco’s expertise to meet their high expectations.”

Commenting on the agreement, Andrew Holder, Deputy Director Heavy Maintenance at Ryanair stated “Ryanair are pleased to be continuing their long-term relationship with Joramco, we have a busy season ahead with nose to tail heavy checks and knowing Joramco will deliver the high standards of maintenance demanded by us is true testament to the relationship we have built”.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Temperatures on Wednesday are expected to be slightly above their seasonal average, bringing pleasant weather conditions in most parts of the country, and moderate in the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and Aqaba, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said in its daily update.

Similar weather will prevail on Thursday, with clouds appearing at medium and high altitudes, and southeasterly to southwesterly moderate winds.

On Friday, a slight decrease in temperatures is forecast with unstable weather condition affecting the Kingdom. Clouds will build up at different altitudes and scattered showers will fall in the northern and central regions, extending to the southern region at night.

The highs in Amman and other highlands across the Kingdom today will range between 23 and 21 degrees Celsius, dropping at night to 11C or even 8C in the southern highlands. In the Gulf city of Aqaba, it will be warmer with mercury reaching a high of 30C and a low of 17C.

Source: Jordan News Agency