Category: General

Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) exports maintained an upswing, surging 57 percent during the past seven months of the year, compared to the same period of last year, according to the latest figures.

Exports spiked to JD4.159 billion during the past seven months of the year, compared to JD2.656 billion in the same period of 2021, the statistics, which were obtained by Petra, showed.

The bulk of industries recorded an increase in exports, except medical industries and supplies, which dropped 9 percent to reach JD300 million, compared to JD330 million during the same period of last year, according to the figures.

The data showed that ACI exports have continued a remarkable upward trend, achieving unprecedented rates since the beginning of the year, the chamber said.

They showed the Jordanian industry’s ability to bypass hurdles and compete in export markets, given their quality, which requires providing more capabilities for manufacturers to increase production and expand job-generating businesses.

Jordanian industries can access more than 142 markets around the world through the export of 1,400 various commodities.

The national industry, which recruits over a quarter of a million Jordanians, has a pivotal contribution to the Kingdom’s trade balance as it accounts for 93 percent of the country’s total exports at an annual value of up to 5 billion dinars and a sector investment volume of 15 billion dinars, the ACI said.

India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq accounted for more than half of ACI exports during the past seven months of the year, at a value of 2.199 billion dinars, the chamber said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Hayat Educational Fund (HEF), a Jordanian nonprofit association, launched a scholarship package for outstanding underprivileged university students on Thursday, during a ceremony held, in cooperation with Kuwaiti International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO) office in Jordan.

Speaking at the ceremony to announce the initiative, the HEF’s representative, Ibrahim Bayoudh, lauded the IICO’s role and its continuous support in several fields and highlighted the importance of strengthening joint partnerships with global and local organizations to support students.

This effort would have a significant impact in achieving the HEF’s mission to support the right to education for academically high achieving, poor students, he pointed out.

IICO Director in Jordan, Mustafa Awwad, said the organization’s mission aims to serve human community and will continue to provide all means of cooperation and partnership to support the scientifically and culturally “distinguished” talents at the pan-Arab level.

Until end of June 2022, Hayat Educational Fund provided more than $6, 400, 000 in grants to university students, offered 20, 446 training hours in several fields, and 41,300 community service hours.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The value of exports of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) reached JD506 million during the first seven months of 2022, compared with JD392 in the same period of 2021, ACC figures showed on Saturday.

The value of certificates of origin issued by the ACC in the first seven months of 2022 to export goods stood at 18, 931, compared with 20, 312 in the same period of 2021, the ACC data revealed.

The ACC noted that a total of 4,645 certificates were issued for shipments to Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE (2,479), Iraq (778), Egypt (518) and India with 99 certificates.

The majority of exports during the January-July period went to Iraq, which accounted for JD121 million, followed Egypt with JD73mln, Saudi Arabia with JD57mln, the UAE with JD45mln, and India with JD27mln.

With regard to re-exports of foreign products, the chamber said they amounted to about JD215 million, while industrial, agricultural and Arab products’ exports reached JD140mln, JD87mln and JD42mln, respectively.

Source: Jordan News Agency

In cooperation with Danish Trade Union Development Agency (DTDA), a four-day strategic planning workshop for Jordan’s General Trade Union for Workers in Electricity (GTUWE) was concluded in the port city of Aqaba, aimed to develop the syndicate’s strategic plan for the coming five years.

In a press statement on Saturday, GTUWE president, Fakhri Ajarma, said development of the union’s strategic plan aims to enhance its work, improve its role, and achieve its goals, in a way that serves the electricity sector workers and improves their conditions.

The workshop, he noted, focused on multiple axes, mainly wage hikes legislation amendment and strengthened interaction of GTUWE workers’ representatives with the sector operators’ leaders.

Success of this future plan depends on concerted efforts and cooperation of GTUWE’s members to achieve its objectives, he pointed out.

Commending DTDA’s support and its continuous efforts to help GTUWE’s activities and programs, he lauded the long-standing joint relations and partnership with the Danish agency, which played an “important” role in success of the union’s work.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The “Oak Chains” housing project, built in Amman’s Dabouq district, has received the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certification, approved by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), aimed to award resource-efficient building construction.

The project has successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50%, using environmental design procedures and raising efficiency of its lighting, air conditioning and water systems.

In a statement on Saturday, Manager of Alsaraya Housing Projects and Investment, Jamal Badran, said the project, which is developed by his company, is the first Jordanian housing community to receive the EDGE accreditation, in support of the developer’s vision towards building environmentally friendly and pioneering homes at the region’s level.

The project, which consists of eight homes, is the first residential community to obtain a global certificate in green construction in the Kingdom, he noted.

This accreditation is a step within the company’s comprehensive strategy to provide “distinguished” residential units, aimed to improve their owners’ life quality and save energy and water consumption, he pointed out.

On their vision, Badran noted this style will be carried out in future environmentally friendly buildings that serve and enhance sustainability of natural resources.

The project has saved energy and water consumption by 51% and 43%, respectively.

Source: Jordan News Agency

China on Thursday successfully launched a terrestrial ecosystem carbon monitoring satellite and two other satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the Shanxi Province, northern the country.

The carbon monitoring satellite is mainly used for terrestrial ecosystem carbon monitoring, survey and monitoring of terrestrial ecology and resource, major national ecological projects monitoring and evaluation. It will also provide operational support and research services in many areas such as environmental protection, surveying and mapping, meteorology, agriculture, and disaster reduction.

Source: Jordan News Agency

A training course on wastewater treatment and reuse in agriculture concluded Thursday at the Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU).

The “WATRA Week II” training is a component of the BAU’s WATRA program, which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC), and Orange Knowledge (OKP).

It is a joint project of the BAU, IHE Delft, and the World Water Academy (WWA) in the Netherlands.

The second week of the WATRA project was hosted by the International Research Center for Water, Environment, and Energy (IRCWEE) at the BAU.

Dr. Naser Manaseer, manager of the WATRA project and associate professor of civil engineering at BAU, stated that the university collaborates with the ministry of water to better serve the community and emphasized the significance of collaboration between the academia and government agencies.

According to Manaseer, the project aims to offer creative answers to achieve sustainable development by investing in current facilities and renovating them to benefit the kingdom more effectively.

The training included a variety of workshops and programs for trainees and farmers in the Jordan Valley region, which was one of the project’s primary target areas.

Peter van der Steen, the project leader of WATRA at IHE, described the project’s objectives, which include helping to strengthen the diploma program for water engineering at BAU and developing the Fuhais research center for wastewater treatment to train individuals on how to combat water scarcity.

Reem Khader, OKP’s country manager, discussed the institution’s role in the region, stating that it funds 14 projects in the Kingdom and addresses four major areas: agriculture and water management, food and nutrition security, security and law, and sexual and reproductive health.

Jihad Mahamid, Secretary General of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, discussed Jordan’s water challenges and stated that, despite scarcity, Jordan is a regional leader in managing water resources.

Although Jordan faces challenges from climate change in ensuring the population’s access to water and food, he asserted that efforts are still being made, in partnership with IHE, to identify unconventional water resources.

Dr. Ahmad Al Ajluni, President of BAU, emphasized that collaboration between BAU and IHE will aid in Jordan’s fight against water scarcity. He urged BAU students to pursue water studies and submit proposals and reports aimed at developing new technologies to benefit the community.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The 20th Amman International Summer Shopping Festival has attracted a large number of citizens and tourists who wish to shop or view the newest offerings of local and international companies.

The ten-day festival, which began on July 28 at the Jordan Exhibition and Convention Center in Mecca Mall, has brought together vendors from Jordan, Palestine, Iran, and Pakistan.

The event is open from 3 to 11 p.m. and features food items, furniture, clothing, accessories, plastic and chemical products, “detergents,” antiques, and presents. It also offers direct selling services and organizes contests and events for children’s entertainment.

Raed Abu Saada, general manager of the event’s organizers, the International Promoters Co (IPCo), said that the event’s economic, commercial, and promotional benefits make it very significant for the Kingdom.

Source: Jordan News Agency

– Stargazers and astronomy enthusiasts are invited to observe a spectacular extraterrestrial show on August 12 and 13, when the Perseid meteor showers will illuminate the skies of the Middle East and the Kingdom, producing up to 100 meteors per hour at their peak.

Astronomer Imad Mujahid told Petra on Wednesday that the Perseid meteor shower can be seen with the naked eye without the use of telescopes or any special equipment because the meteors are extremely bright and leave persistent trails.

However, Mujahid suggested going to open areas free of light pollution for a better experience, such as the Wadi Rum region in the south of the Kingdom, which he asserted is the best location to take in a spectacular sky show.

Mujahid continued by stating that when dust atoms approach the Earth, they typically enter the atmosphere at a speed of up to 70 kilometers per second. This high speed, continues Mujahid, causes the dust atoms to collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating intense heat that glows and briefly takes the form of fiery arrows before going out.

He explained that meteors begin to glow at a height of 120 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, then burn and transform into ash at a height of 60 kilometers; therefore, meteors rarely reach the Earth’s surface, and if they do, they are so small that no one notices them.

Meteor showers are celestial events in which several meteors appear to originate from a single point in the night sky. This occurs as the Earth travels through streams of cosmic debris left behind by comets and, in some cases, asteroids.

Perseid meteor showers can produce a shooting star about once every minute and are generally brighter than other meteor showers throughout the year.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The British Embassy in Amman announced Wednesday that applications for the Chevening Scholarship program are now open and will close on November 1, 2022.

In a statement, the embassy said that those interested can submit their applications via the website www.chevening.org/apply and follow the British Embassy on social media channels where it will be sharing useful information. The Chevening Scholarships are the United Kingdom Government’s global scholarship program for master’s students, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

Chevening offers opportunities to enable outstanding emerging leaders from all over the world to pursue one-year master’s degrees in the UK, it said, adding that the scholarship offers full financial support for scholars to study for any eligible master’s degree at any UK university whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.

Chevening Scholarships are awarded to individuals from all backgrounds who can demonstrate that they have the commitment and skills required to create positive change in their communities and to make a contribution to UK-Jordan relations in the future.

Since the program was created in 1983, over 50,000 professionals have had the opportunity to develop in the UK through Chevening. There are more than 1,500 scholarships on offer globally for the 2023/2024 academic year, demonstrating the UK’s ongoing commitment towards developing the leaders of tomorrow, the statement stressed.

Last year, scholars from Jordan completed their master’s programmes in various fields based including Humanitarian Studies, Politics, Entrepreneurship, and Environment.

A spokesperson for the British Embassy said: “We are proud of our world-class universities. Chevening scholarships offer a life-changing opportunity to people of outstanding potential. Scholars go on both to make a significant contribution to Jordan’s development. They also to contribute to relations between the UK and Jordan in a wide range of fields and join a global network of over 50,000 alumni. There is huge potential for emerging leaders in Jordan to advance their careers across various sectors and lead on positive change.”

Source: Jordan News Agency