Day: November 30, 2022

Amman, Minister of Agriculture and Chair of the International Olive Council (IOC), Khalid Hneifat, on Wednesday, opened meetings of the IOC plenary session in Jaén, Spain, where Jordan will chair IOC for this year.

IOC Executive Director Abdellatif Ghedira, head of the Jordanian mission, Murad Maaitah, and representatives of member states attended the session.

The IOC with all its members unanimously agreed to assign Jordan to chair the council for 2023, for the second year, a first of its kind precedent.

Commenting on the selection, Hneifat said Jordan is respected by all countries of the world, and this is due to the wisdom of the Hashemite leadership in establishing good relations with the countries of the world on the basis of love, respect and fruitful partnership for the benefit of humanity.

He stressed the importance of olives and olive oil and its role in food security, and its role in achieving peace in all countries of the world.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, The 17th edition of Rawi Screenwriters Lab wrapped up on Wednesday with the participation of eight Arab screenplay writers (Rawi Fellows), who worked intensively on developing their promising feature-length screenplays over five days.

The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) organized this year’s Lab from the 25th until 30th of November at Wadi Feynan in the southwestern edge of the Dana Biosphere Reserve.

The lab’s activities took place in a serene and inspiring ambiance, suitable for creativity and dialogue at Feynan Ecolodge. Earlier on, the RFC had launched an open call for feature-length screenplays, from January until April, where 80 eligible applications were received.

A committee of Creative Consultants carefully reviewed the submissions and selected the finalists after detailed evaluations and interviews.

The Lab hosted eight prominent screenwriters (Rawi’s Creative Advisors), from all around the world, to share their expertise and work closely with the selected Arab screenwriters in order unleash their utmost potential in screenplay writing.

Rawi’s Fellows and Advisors had intensive one-on-one meetings to look into the screenplays and polish their plot in order to tell stories in the most compelling way.

Mohannad Al-Bakri, the RFC’s Managing Director, commented on this year’s Lab saying: “Rawi’s distinctiveness lies in empowering the voices of Fellows as storytellers, rather than tackling technical solutions within the craft. The stories emerge from the Fellows’ experiences and surroundings.”

He added: “The diversity of gender, background, filmmaking style and experience of the Creative Advisors is essential. The sense of responsibility, generosity, and input of Advisors towards Rawi’s Fellows are key factors to its success: we are grateful to them and value their contribution.”

The Creative Advisors for this year included: Ahmed Amer (Egypt), Bernd Lichtenberg (Germany), Juliano Dornelles (Brazil), Margaret Glover (UK), Nadia Eliewat (Jordan), Sharon Doyle (USA), Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus) and Ye?im Ustao?lu (Turkey).

Juliano Dornelles, a filmmaker, production designer and screenwriter shared his impressions saying: “It’s been a great adventure to come here and meet with so many people to talk about cinema and learn about the stories of this region, which were pleasantly diverse and different, yet felt very familiar on the human level.”

While award-winning director Ye?im Ustao?lu, who has participated at Rawi as a Creative Advisor for the second time, added: “Being in a deserted natural area teaches you so much and allows you to observe life differently. The projects I worked with were diverse in many aspects; the countries, stories, approaches, and levels but we all understood each other very well; I believe I was able to help the Fellows open up to new ideas and possibilities.”

Selected projects and fellows for this year’s edition of Rawi are: “Red Bus in Baghdad” by Ali Saeed (Iraq), “The Common Land” by Firas Taybeh (Jordan), “The Camp Beauty Queen” by Hanadi Elyan (Jordan), “Loris” by Mohamed Samir (Egypt), “Drowning” by Mujtaba Saeed (Saudi Arabia), “What’s Your Name” by Nour Almoujabber (Lebanon), “Mermaid Avenue” by Sharon Hakim (Egypt), “Jesus of Palestine” by Sohail Dahdal (Palestine).

About her participation in Rawi, Fellow Hanadi Elyan said: “All the Creative Advisors were interested in helping me to make my project work in my own way without imposing their opinions or styles. I also found that watching the films of other Fellows and discussing them was beneficial.”

Fellow Mujtaba Said also shared some of his thoughts on the Lab saying: “The nature of the place and its isolation played a role in the success of the Lab but curating a professional program and a safe environment with freedom of expression had the greatest role.

Rawi is a unique and rich experience that I recommend to all Arab writers and filmmakers.” The Call for Applications for the upcoming round of Rawi Screenwriters Lab will be open early 2023.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II on Wednesday evening lauded the Tunisian national team win 1-0 against France in their last match in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Crown Prince posted a picture of the Tunisian team via the story feature on his Instagram account and captioned it with: “The Eagles of Carthage made the impossible today, good luck for the Tunisian brothers.”

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, Domestic revenues are expected to see a growth of 10.4 per cent compared to the re-estimation for 2022, Finance Minister Mohammad Al-Ississ said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a joint press briefing on the draft general budget law for 2023, with Minister of Government Communications, Faisal Shboul, Al-Ississ said this estimate was based on expectations of a nominal domestic product growth of about 6.6 per cent in 2023, and a growth in tax revenues of about JD696 million, or 11.7 per cent, to reflect the growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the one hand, and to reflect the impact of measures to combat tax evasion, improve tax administration, apply international practices in tax auditing and inspection, expand the tax base, and enhance the voluntary commitment of taxpayers on the other hand.

He reaffirmed the government’s commitment not to impose any new taxes or increase current taxes for the fourth year in a row, expecting non-tax revenues to grow by 6.6 per cent, compared to the 2022 reassessment, and the increase in external grants to reach JD802 million for 2023, or 0.8 per cent for 2022.

He added that the inflation rate in Jordan will reach 3.8 per cent in 2023. He pointed out that this rate is “one of the best rates in the world” and that many countries have inflation rates that are much higher.

“The GDP growth rate will score 2.7 per cent to reach JD36.9 billion, and the balance of payments deficit as a percentage of the GDP will decrease from 7.9 to 6.1 per cent,” Al-Ississ added.

He stressed that due to efforts to combat tax evasion and tax and customs avoidance, the public debt will decrease to reach JD32 billion, and the debt-to-GDP ratio will decrease to 86.6 per cent.

He added that public revenues will reach JD9.6 billion, an increase of 7.4 per cent compared to 2022, as local revenues will increase by 10.4 per cent to reach JD8.8 billion, and tax revenues will increase by 11.7 per cent, reaching JD6.6 billion, without any raise in the tax burden on the citizen.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Paris, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has included Mansaf on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

Jordan’s permanent representative to the UNESCO, Ambassador Makram Qaisi, said listing Mansaf on the ICH list was announced in the committee’s meetings, to be held between November 27 to December 3 in Rabat, Morocco.

In March 2021, Jordan’s Permanent Mission to the UNESCO had submitted a file entitled “Mansaf in Jordan: A Ceremonial Feast and Its Social and Cultural Connotations” to include the traditional Jordanian dish in the ICH representative list.

Ambassador Qaisi lauded efforts of public and private Jordanian institutions, in coordination with the permanent Jordanian mission to UNESCO, in making the Kingdom’s efforts to include this file a success.

Arabic coffee, couscous, Italian pizza, and other international dishes have been included in the UNESCO’s list.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Aqaba, Assistant President of the University of Jordan – Aqaba, Dr. Mua’ad Majed Abu-Faraj, on Wednesday met with Ambassador of France to Jordan, Alexis Le Cour Grandmaison.

The meeting covered ways to develop and consolidate relations between the university and its French counterparts in the field of French language and student exchange.

Abu-Faraj highlighted the university’s establishment, history, development, and future plan towards opening more faculties and majors and its focus on teaching Arabic to non-native speakers as part of promoting tourism in the southern shore of Aqaba, and its role in attracting foreign students in the education tourism program.

He stressed the importance of facilitating university students’ task to submit the French TOEFL exam by strengthening the relationship with the French Institute in Amman, and providing mechanisms to ensure that faculty members obtain scientific references for scientific research in the French language.

For his part, Ambassador Grandmaison lauded the university’s advanced level, stressing that this visit will be echoed in the near future through more agreements for student exchange between the university and its French counterparts within the framework of joint cooperation and the development of teaching the French language.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, Prime Minister Dr. Bishr Khasawneh instructed Minister of Culture Haifaa Najjar to review all novels and literary works that receives the ministry’s support to get released and hit shelves, under the Jordanian Family Library project.

In this regard, the PM directed the minister to withdraw all publications that fail to conform to values, customs and traditions of Jordanian society, and the nation’s principles.

The PM also instructed the minister to stop endorsement of any content, which harms Jordanian society’s authentic values and the “principled and honest” cultural heritage that reflects Jordan’s identity.

He emphasized measures to end circulation of any “extraneous” content that snubs these values and is not commensurate with Jordanian cultural identity.

In addition, the PM directed the concerned authorities to take the necessary measures regarding any such violations, in accordance with rules and in accordance with the legislation in force.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, The government’s fuel pricing committee on Wednesday decided to raise the prices of a number of fuel derivatives for December.

The committee’s decision was made in its monthly meeting, held to determine the selling prices of oil derivatives locally between December 1 to 31. In the meeting international prices of crude oil and oil derivatives in November were reviewed and compared with October’s prices.

The price of one litre of unleaded 90-octane gasoline will see a price increase of JD0.10 in December, selling at JD0.920, compared to JD0.910 in November.

The price per litre of unleaded 95-octane gasoline will be increased by JD0.15 to reach JD1.17 in December, against JD1.155 in November.

The price of one litre of diesel will see a price increase of JD0.35 each in December, selling at JD0.895 instead of JD0.860.

The price of kerosene will remain unchanged for December at JD0.860.

Also, the price of gas cylinders will remain at JD7 as usual, according to the committee’s decision.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, The University of Jordan (UJ) advanced in The Times Higher Education Arab University Rankings 2022, and ranked 1st locally and carved 21th place out of 14 and 169 Jordanian and Arab universities, respectively, which took part in the classification.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UJ’s president, Dr. Nazir Obeidat, said the university has made “multiple achievements” in various world rankings and assessments.

In this regard, he said UJ entered Shanghai World Ranking for the first time in the history of Jordanian universities, within 701-800 category, and obtained a five-star “Excellent” rating, issued by British “QS” institution.

Dr. Enaam Khalaf, UJ’s vice president for Accreditation and Quality Assurance Affairs and Masour Matarneh, Director of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Center, attended MENA Universities Summit 2022, held under the theme: “Transforming learning for a sustainable future,” which concluded on Wednesday in Kuwait, during which the rankings outcomes were announced.

Matarneh noted UJ was “distinguished” in Arab university rankings in learning and scientific research performance indicators, and ranked 8th and 13th in learning and in scientific research areas, respectively.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Amman, A Cabinet session, headed by Prime Minister Dr. Bishr Khasawneh, on Wednesday approved the draft general budget law for 2023, in preparation for referring it to Parliament in accordance with the timeframe set by the Constitution.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Muhammad Ississ, and Minister of Government Communications, Faisal Shboul, announced details of the draft law during their press conference held today at Ministry of Finance.

On the other hand, Council of Ministers okayed a draft law amending the real estate sale tax law for 2022, aimed to stimulating investment in the real estate and housing sectors and increasing their trading volume.

Under the draft law, this tax rate was reduced to 3% instead of 4% and would enable Department of Lands and Survey (DLS) to refund the real estate sale tax collected for incomplete transactions to avoid judicial claims for its refund.

In addition, subsequent sale transactions carried out by ‘murabaha” contracts of sale conducted by Islamic banks and other financial institutions conducting similar businesses will be excluded from the real estate sale tax.

The Council of Ministers approved a draft law amending Jordanian Nationality Law for 2022 to align texts related to nationality restoration.

Under amendments, a Jordanian woman married to a non-Jordanian national, who renounced her Jordanian citizenship and acquired her husband’s nationality by extension, is granted the right to restore her Jordanian nationality without limiting the process to expiration of marital reasons.

The Cabinet also approved a draft law amending 2022 Professional Work Regulation Law, aimed at easing citizens’ transactions to contribute to regulating and grading the sector’s operating shops into professions.

In this regard, Ministry of Labor is enabled to carry out its tasks set in this law in a manner consistent with its roles and capabilities.

On the other hand, the Cabinet approved Jordan’s Stakeholders’ Strategy for Land Governance and Management for 2022-2030, which aims to help ministries, government institutions, international organizations and civil society organizations launch and benefit from constructive dialogue in drawing up a roadmap, which would lead to transparent land governance methods, to guarantee all stakeholders’ rights.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY