Day: February 12, 2023

Amman: The Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jordan on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The memo aims to enhance joint cooperation and providing the necessary technical support to facilitate access of persons with disabilities to the agency’s services and ensure protection of the rights of disabled Palestinian refugees during 2023-2028.

The memo was signed by HCD’s President, Prince Mired bin Ra’ad, and Olaf Becker, Acting Director of UNRWA Affairs.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Prince Mired stressed the need to adopt a new approach to further promote rights of persons with disabilities and frame partnership with UNRWA to work to align and achieve common strategic goals.

The memo aims to strengthen partnership within the framework of implementing a blanket policy to integrate students with disabilities in UNRWA schools, in line with the comprehensive national policy frameworks of Jordanian government and other international guidelines.

In addition, the MoU promotes comprehensive social and cultural awareness in health, educational and recreational activities for children with disabilities.

It also aims to enhance access of persons with disabilities to health, rehabilitation and support devices, and build both sides’ worker capacity in health, relief, social services, education, emergency fields, and this group’s protection programs.

The agreement provides technical support on accessibility requirements and facilitation arrangements that should be provided to ensure access for persons with disabilities to various facilities and intervention services, and support national initiatives aimed to confront environmental and behavioral barriers that prevent disabled Palestinian refugees from accessing services.

For his part, Becker lauded Prince Mired’s efforts and HCD’s role in raising awareness and social inclusion of persons with disabilities in Jordan.

Becker said continued integration and protection of the most vulnerable people is a main priority in building a society to achieve opportunities, hope and prosperity for all.

He also noted the memo contributes to improving the social, cultural and economic participation of Palestinian refugees with disabilities in Jordan.

The two sides voiced keenness to cooperate in advocacy in national, regional and international events, with a primary focus on protecting and promoting rights of Palestinian refugees with disabilities.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Dr. Bishr Khasawneh on Sunday received Chief of Joint Staff of Japan Self-Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Koji Yamazaki, and the accompanying delegation.

During the meeting, which was attended by Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs, Ibrahim Jazi, and Japanese Ambassador to Jordan, Okuyama Jiro, the premier affirmed the “strategic” relations between the two countries, pointing to the “distinguished” relationship between His Majesty King Abdullah II and Japanese leaders.

Lauding Japan’s support and assistance provided to Jordan in multiple development fields, Khasawneh stressed keenness to enhance joint cooperation to serve common interests.

Khasawneh also drew attention to the two countries’ shared common values in their quest to establish peace in the region and the world.

The PM pointed to opportunities and cooperation areas between the two countries’ armed forces in training fields and exchanging expertise and information.

The PM briefed Gen. Yamazaki on the Middle East developments, especially with regard to the Palestinian cause, and efforts made by Jordan, under His Majesty King Abdullah II’s leadership, to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East region.

The PM commended Japan’s position in support of the region’s peace, based on the principle of the two-state solution.

In addition, the PM reiterated Jordan’s position, under the King’s leadership, to support achieving peace in the region, in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution, which guarantees establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The PM affirmed the historical Hashemite Custodianship over Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites, assumed with honor, trust and responsibility by His Majesty King Abdullah II, Custodian of the holy city’s sanctities.

He pointed to Jordan’s efforts to stop unilateral Israeli measures and preserve the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem.

For his part, Gen. Yamazaki affirmed the two countries’ friendship, referring to Japan’s leadership and people’s respect for Jordan.

He also stressed the desire to increase cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces in the defense fields, exchange of joint expertise and training.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) contributed to supporting and developing Jordan’s agricultural sector in partnership with government plans aimed to stimulate growth, especially National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture (2022-2025), its Director General, Mohammed Dojan, said.

According to an ACC statement issued on Sunday, Dojan referred to the development of specialized lending programs that are in line with the plan’s axes, by providing soft financing to launch “pioneering” agricultural projects, which aimed to improve food security, address climate change, empower women economically, and create permanent employment opportunities, especially for young people.

He said these programs provide concessional and subsidized financing for agricultural and rural activities, indicating that the ACC made the “highest” achievements during 2022.

During 2022, he said multiple loans and fundings were granted worth JD55 million, of which JD26mln were interest-free and benefited 12,100 borrowers.

During the past two years, he noted value of interest-free loans amounted to JD56mln and benefited some 16, 000 borrowers, adding that their projects created approximately 6,000 employment opportunities.

Meanwhile, he said borrowers paid back JD50mln.

In addition, he pointed to the increase in the number of loan beneficiaries by 100% during the past two years, which reflects ACC’s desire to expand services horizontally by introducing new activities and agricultural areas.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The Arab Board of Health Specializations (ABHS) activities, which began last Thursday at the Dead Sea, were concluded Sunday.

The event was held on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of ABHS’s establishment, under the theme: “Together to Build an Empowered Health Staff.”

In a statement to “Petra,” ABHS Secretary-General, Omar Rawas, said Royal patronage of the forum contributed to strengthening the board’s role in improving health services in the Arab countries by qualifying specialists in health fields with “high” professional and scientific competence, in accordance with global standards and increasing competitiveness among the board’s alumni and students.

Rawas also referred to Jordan’s “remarkable” role in hosting the ABHS’s temporary headquarters.

Organized by Arab League’s support, he said some 300 physicians from various health and academic institutions from 22 Arab countries took part in the forum’s activities.

Stressing importance of ABHS’s complementarity with Arab medical specializations councils, he said ABHS is taking “active” steps aimed to strengthening the Arab sustainable health medical education network.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Under Royal directives, the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) sent two aircrafts to the Turkish Adana Airport to transport a total of 480 tents that will be delivered to families who survived from earthquakes that recently hit Syria and Turkiye.

This batch of tents, loaded from the warehouses of the regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan, is part of 10,000 tents that will be transported successively via an air bridge between Jordan and Turkiye, according to the foreign ministry.

The Kingdom continues to provide assistance to people in affected areas in Syria and Turkiye, the ministry’s spokesperson, Sinan Majali said Sunday in a statement.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Border patrols on Sunday stopped an attempt to smuggle large amounts of drugs out of Syrian territory through the Jordan-Syria border.

A Jordan Armed Forces – Arab Army source said in a statement that border guards intercepted a group of smugglers attempting to cross into Jordanian territory from Syria. The troops engaged the smugglers, injuring some and pushing them back into Syrian territory, according to the source.

The smugglers left behind 181 palm-sized sheets of hashish and 179,000 narcotic pills, the source added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday stressed that the Palestinian cause will remain at the forefront of all Arab priorities, reaffirming the need to unify Arab efforts to support the steadfastness of the Palestinians in their land.

In remarks delivered at a conference held in Cairo by the Arab League and the State of Palestine in support of Jerusalem, King Abdullah said the topic of the meeting “is close to the hearts of all Arabs”, noting that Jerusalem is the First Qibla for Muslims, and that the region cannot live in peace, stability, and prosperity without any progress made on the Palestinian cause.

“We reiterate that preserving the prospects of peace, on the basis of the two-state solution, demands ceasing all Israeli violations, incursions into Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, and attempts for temporal and spatial division,” His Majesty said.

The King warned that any attempt to alter the historical and legal status quo will have negative ramifications on the security and stability of the entire region.

Reaffirming Jordan’s support for the Palestinians, His Majesty called on the international community to guarantee their just and legitimate rights to establish an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state, on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The King said Jordan continues to exert all efforts under the Hashemite Custodianship to safeguard Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including maintenance and restoration projects in Al Aqsa Mosque and Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

His Majesty noted that these efforts are aimed at safeguarding the Arab identity of the Holy City, supporting the resilience of Jerusalemites, and guaranteeing Muslims’ and Christians’ freedom of worship.

“This is the legacy of the Prophet Mohammad, as inherited by the Hashemites through my great-great-grandfather Sharif Hussein bin Ali, when he answered the call of the Palestinians, over a century ago,” the King stressed.

Within this historical responsibility, His Majesty said the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan supports “our Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, as they seek to protect their churches and counter violations against their holy sites.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to the Pact of Omar, which has guaranteed harmony and coexistence in Jerusalem for over 1,400 years,” the King added.

His Majesty also thanked the Arab League for organising the conference in coordination with the Palestinians, noting that it comes at a time “when we must all step up our efforts to support the steadfastness of our brothers and sisters in the Palestinian Territories.”

The conference is being held with Arab, regional, and international participation, based on a decision at the 31st Arab Summit held in Algeria last November.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan, Awqaf Minister Mohammad Khalaileh, and Jordan’s Permanent Representative at the Arab League in Cairo Amjad Adaileh attended the conference from the Jordanian delegation.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) and CMB, an international disabled-centered development organization, on Sunday launched a project to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and their access to community services in Jordan.

Launched under the patronage of HCD President His Royal Highness Prince Mired Bin Raad, the project will be carried out over the course of three years in the governorates of Mafraq, Tafila, and Karak/Ghor Al-Safi with the help of the Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC).

It aims improve people with disabilities’ access to inclusive, comprehensive, and high-quality rehabilitative community services.

As part of the project, comprehensive community development methodology-aligned (CBID) standards will be developed for the community rehabilitation services offered by civil society organizations, including early screening, physiotherapy, occupational, speech, and family counseling.

In order to develop community-based rehabilitation programs in the governorates the project is targeting, the project will also conduct a status study of the community, institutional, and home rehabilitative services offered by civil society organizations in those governorates. This will be done in addition to upgrading buildings to make them accessible to people with disabilities and training the staff who work in those facilities.

Prince Mired emphasized the significance of the Council’s partnership with CBM and CBM’s direct support for the Council, as well as the importance of working together to promote community-based, inclusive development that will allow people with disabilities to freely and independently access the services provided in their communities.

Omar Saket, CBM’s Middle East programs representative, emphasized the importance of collaboration between CBM and the Council in order to deliver high-quality services to people with disabilities.

Saket emphasized the significance of long-term planning for improving and expanding community services that aid those with disabilities.

He emphasized that Jordan is one of the nations that meets the criteria for being a model area for community rehabilitation and that community supportive services (CSS) are one of the top priorities of the new CBM 2030 strategy.

Together with its local partners, CBM has been advocating for the rights of people with disabilities around the world for more than 110 years, providing medical aid to those in need and working to improve the quality of their lives in fundamental and permanent ways.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation, edged up 3.77 percent in January 2023, reaching 107.62 points against 103.71 in the same month of 2022.

According to a monthly report issued by the Department of Statistics (DoS) on Sunday, the biggest drivers of the increase were fuels and lighting contributing 31.82 percent, rents with 5.17 percent, transportation with 2.39 percent, dairy products and eggs with 7.88 percent, and culture and entertainment with 10.40 percent.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The Industrial Producers’ Prices index picked up by 13.97 percent in 2022, amounting to 141.72 points against 124.34 points in 2021, the latest figures showed.

A report issued Sunday by the Department of Statistics (DoS) said this upward trend comes as a result of a 13.9 percent increase in the transformative industries prices index and a 34.17 percent increase in the extractive industries prices index, while the prices index of electricity dropped by 7.75 percent.

The producer’s prices index for December of 2022 went up by 5.41 percent, reaching 139.48 points compared to 132.32 during the same month of 2021, the report noted.

The main contributors to the monthly rise were transformative industries with a 4.41 percent contribution to the overall increase followed by extractive industries with 28.55 percent, while the electricity prices index went down by 8.47 percent.

Source: Jordan News Agency