Category: General

The Aqaba Water Company (AW) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Thursday signed an agreement to implement the Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement (FARA) project, which aims to rehabilitate water networks in southern Jordan.

The $33.3-million project was signed by AW Director-General Khaled Al Obaidyn and Head of USAID Office of Water Resources and Environment Andrew Lecken.

Over the span of 4 years, the project will improve the infrastructure of water networks by increasing water supply capacity, decreasing water loss by 20 percent in southern areas compared to preliminary percentages, and supporting AW in raising the efficiency of water networks.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation has recently endorsed a strategic plan, funded by the USAID, to reduce water loss to less than 25 percent, said Water Minister Mohamed Najjar, expressing appreciation of the continuous support by the United States government.

He noted that the USAID has donated $26.453 million with a contribution of $6.926 million by AW, thus boosting efforts to address water challenges in the Kingdom.

Secretary-General of the Water Authority of Jordan Bashar Bataineh explained that the deal includes prepping a new master plan in cooperation with AW for infrastructures in the south, conducting a hydraulic study to reduce water loss, and upping the capacity of the Disi water pipeline to 12 million cubic meters (mcm) per year to be able to take in water quantities provided by the National Water Carrier Project. However, in the first stage, water lines will pump some 7 mcm a year, Bataineh noted.

He added that a new water line will also be added, in addition to building a new pump station, rehabilitating four wells in Disi to enhance their productive capacity by 25 percent, reducing energy costs, improving measures of detecting water leaks, and installing new equipment, predicting to pump an additional 3 mcm to houses and reduce energy costs by 10 percent.

Thanks to projects implemented in cooperation with USAID, water loss in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) is expected to drop by 20 percent, providing 900,000 cm a year, he said.

The agreement comes within a series of similar deals signed by the USAID and the Ministry of Water to face water challenges in Jordan and support its water strategy for coming years.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) President Fathi Jaghbir on Thursday met Algeria’s Minister of Trade and Export Promotion Kamel Rezig to discuss boosting two-way trade between the two countries.

Jaghbir said the JCI intends to organize a Jordanian industrial delegation visit to Algeria in June to discuss prospects of export to the country, stressing the importance of Algeria’s market for national exports to tap into markets of the Maghreb and other African countries and the European Union, according to a statement.

During the meeting, which took place in the capital Algiers, Rezig underscored the need to enhance trade exchange, especially for key commodities and services needed in the two countries’ markets.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Arab States on Thursday called for the protection of all civilians during hostilities or conflicts, particularly complete and unconditional neutralization for females and vulnerable people.

UNFPA Arab States Regional Director Luay Shabaneh stressed that the assassination of Shireen Abu Aqla, a Palestinian journalist and Al-Jazeera correspondent in Palestine, while carrying out her civic activities as a journalist and reporter, is further evidence of the dangers threatening Palestinian civilians, especially women and girls.

The journalist lost her life while covering the events in Jenin camp at Wednesday dawn, he noted.

“Ghada Sabateen – a widow and mother of 6 children in her forties – was shot dead last month at the eastern entrance of Husan village in Bethlehem governorate, and in the village of Faqqua, Jenin district, Hanan Khadour – a high school student – also died after being shot,” he said.

He called for ensuring that all measures are taken and all guarantees are provided to protect civilians, especially women and girls.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Jordan Customs Department (JCD) personnel seized, in cooperation with the security bodies, a factory manufacturing tobacco for shisha (water pipe) and faked famous brands.

Head of the Anti-smuggling Department Col. Raed al-Sheyyab said that the personnel also seized packaging machines, tobacco for water pipe and faked famous brands printed on papers.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Qualifiers of the 6th Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) competition kicked off on Thursday, at Jordan’s regional level.

In a statement, Director of the Educational Activities Department at Ministry of Education, Abdul Salam Shanaq, said the ministry’s participation in 2022 ARC project is the “largest,” with 2 million male and female students, under the supervision of 7,678 teachers in 3,836 schools countrywide.

According to Shanaq, 1,038 male and female students, who showed outstanding performance in the qualifying rounds, came from the Kingdom’s 42 educational directorates.

This number also includes UNRWA and Za’atari camp schools, he said, adding that arbitration experts from the Ministry of Education’s supervising teams work on the participants’ evaluation.

During the arbitration days, the evaluation team will move from the southern Aqaba governorate, to the northern Irbid city and finally to capital Amman, to pick up the top 100 participants for the final qualifiers in the Kingdom, he pointed out.

This process, he noted, will determine participants in the reading challenge at Jordan’s level, who will represent the Kingdom in the ARC qualifiers in the UAE’s Dubai.

For her part, general coordinator of 2022 Arab Reading Challenge project, Ola Badaynah, asked the evaluation team to apply the arbitration criteria, based on scoring system approved by Dubai’s ARC.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Jordan Uranium Mining Company (JUMCO) announced Thursday that a new operational factory produced about 20Kg of yellow cake from 160 tons of uranium ore.

The JUMCO General Director Muhammad Shunnaq said that the factory is set to produce tens of kilograms of yellow cake, a mainstay of industrial production, after processing hundreds of tons of uranium ore over the next few months. He underscored that the production stages were carried out in accordance with international standards, specifically the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

This achievement, he added, is due to the company’s team efforts over the past few years, which has enabled it to obtain the necessary data, measurements and engineering designs and the cost of production.

Shunnaq indicated that the company has created a physical preparatory lab and specialized mining and analytical labs on the company’s field site to conduct experiments and research.

Founded in 2013, the JUMCO has worked to increase operations to explore, mine, and exploit sources of nuclear materials in the central area of the Kingdom in accordance with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee requirements. It issued three reports to pinpoint the amount of uranium in Jordan, which is estimated at 41,000 tons of uranium oxide (U3O8) at a concentration rate of 150 parts per million.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) has launched new programs to support small, med-size and emerging enterprises (SMEs).

In a statement on Thursday, JEDCO said the programs are part of its strategic plan to provide technical and financial support, funded by the government, to start establishing new small projects in various governorates. The programs will also lay out base of innovative marketing plans for existing companies, in order to locally and internationally develop their marketing performance.

“In addition, JEDCO will financially support the Jordanian export industries, by paying 50% of the cost of air and sea freight borne by the exporter, as a government contribution to maintain the shares of national exports in global markets in light of the rising shipping costs,” the statement added.

Applying for JEDCO’s financial and technical support is available year-round on the corporation’s website.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Over 27,000 residents of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have been affected by extensive heavy rains that began on Sunday, according to the regional emergency management department.

“Rainfall has caused flooding in 22 counties across nine cities in the region, affecting more than 27,000 people,” it said late Wednesday.

The affected crop area has totaled 2,392 hectares, leading to direct economic losses of 104 million yuan (about 15.4 million U.S. dollars).

The regional flood control and drought relief headquarters has upgraded the level of its emergency response, and has sent working groups to the cities to conduct flood control and relief work.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Director General of the Jordan Cooperative Corporation (JCC), Abdulfattah Shalabi, and Director of Strategy and Joint Ventures at Indian Farmers’ Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Manish Gupta, on Thursday discussed a number of issues related to cooperative work, especially in the agricultural field.

The two sides reviewed Jordan-India expertise in the cooperative sector and role of the cooperative movement in developing local communities, according to a JCC statement.

Discussions also went over possible ways to benefit from some Indian universities’ experience in teaching cooperative thought, to promote cooperative work through various educational fields, the statement added.

Locally, Shalabi referred to the JCC’s role in supervising Jordan’s cooperative sector and societies, promoting related culture and thought in the local community and providing training and rehabilitation services for cooperative societies’ members.

The JCC, he noted, attaches “remarkable” importance to agricultural cooperative societies, for their direct contribution to local food security and works to strengthen and build partnerships with international bodies and donor organizations to support this sector.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Majesty King Abdullah, accompanied by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, met on Wednesday with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House leadership, in Washington, DC.

In remarks to the media ahead of his meeting with Pelosi, King Abdullah commended the United States’ support to Jordan, “I’m delighted to be back here, and, as always, I thank the American people and the US Congress for the great support that they provide to our country Jordan and to the region”.

His Majesty said he looks forward to the meeting to discuss means of moving the region towards the light, and finding a new vision to the Middle East whereby leaders work toward achieving stability, especially with two years into the COVID pandemic.

The King pointed to the impact of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia on stability and food security in the region.

For her part, House Speaker Pelosi said she looks forward to discussing the issues of security, economy, and climate, adding that she is keen to listen to His Majesty’s views on the issues of energy and water in the region, as well as addressing the implications of the pandemic.

“I’ve worked with His Majesty and his family for decades. We have always, in Congress, had the benefit of his wisdom, his knowledge and his judgment of the region”, she said, welcoming the King and the Crown Prince in the Congress.

Pelosi highlighted the bi-partisan (Democratic and Republican) interest in what His Majesty has to say, pointing to the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which the two countries signed in 2021 to fight the terrorist group of “Islamic State”, and promote regional stability and security.

The US House speaker referred to her last visit to Jordan before “COVID”, in which she encountered Jordan’s efforts in hosting Syrian refugees, expressing appreciation to these efforts, especially the services targeting children.

The meeting covered the latest regional developments, with His Majesty stressing the need for Middle East countries to work collectively to counter food security challenges, in addition to the high prices of food, and its scarcity.

Turning to the Palestinian cause, the King reaffirmed the need to galvanise the peace process and relaunch negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, on the basis of the two-state solution, guaranteeing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The meeting also discussed means of reaching political solutions to regional crises, to retain security and stability to peoples of the region, in addition to to efforts to counter terrorism.

US House leadership commended the deeply-rooted historical relations between Jordan and the United States, as well as the Kingdom’s pivotal role to promote regional stability and achieve peace.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan, and Jordan’s Ambassador in Washington Dina Kawar attended the meetings.

Source: Jordan News Agency