Category: General

Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the Executive Council of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), Khaled Hneifat, on Wednesday chaired its Executive Council 53rd regular session, which was held remotely.

Speaking at the virtual session, Hneifat said food security remains the focus of attention of agricultural policy makers and strategic planners at the local and international levels, which is a “major” priority to world countries, working to give this issue due attention for its importance on human lives.

Arab countries are called on to make more efforts to develop the agricultural sector, in a manner that guarantees meeting Arab countries’ needs of the necessary basic materials, according to Hneifat.

This projected effort should take into account several factors, foremost are demographic growth and changing consumption patterns in the Arab world, which necessitates raising agricultural production to meet food demand, Hneifat pointed out.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Minister of Labor, Nayef Istitieh, on Wednesday received his Qatari counterpart, Dr. Ali Said Samikh Al Marri, upon arrival in Amman on an official visit.

On Thursday, the two ministers are scheduled to discuss the key labor-related files between the two countries, according to a labor ministry statement.

During the last two days, the Qatari minister’s accompanying delegation, who arrived in Jordan last Monday, were briefed on the ministry’s efforts in regulating the Kingdom’s labor market, worker-employer affairs, as well as tasks of the ministry-affiliated institutions.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday received Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

The meeting covered regional and international developments, with King Abdullah reaffirming the need to maintain coordination among Arab countries to confront various challenges, commending the Arab League’s role in this regard.

His Majesty stressed Jordan’s keenness to support efforts to develop and institutionalise joint Arab action.

Turning to the Palestinian cause, the King called for pushing the peace process forward, and relaunching negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, on the basis of the two-state solution, and in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and international law and relevant UN resolutions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attended the meeting.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The eurozone’s unemployment rate fell to a historic low in December, official figures showed Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 7 per cent in December, compared to 7.1 per cent in November 2021 and 8.2 per cent in January 2020, according to the official Eurostat statistics agency.

“The eurozone ended 2021 — the year after the worst recession since World War II — with its lowest ever unemployment rate. A testimony to the success of our collective response to this crisis,” said Paolo Gentiloni, the EU economics affairs commissioner.

Eurostat said that some 13.6 million people were unemployed in the EU in December, including 11.5 million in the eurozone.

In the 27-member European Union, unemployment fell to 6.4 per cent in December, compared to 6.5 per cent in November and 7.5 per cent in January 2020.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Eastern Military Zone troops Tuesday morning arrested a man who tried to infiltrate the border and cross to Syria from Jordan, according to a source at the Jordan Armed Forces- Arab Army Command Headquarters.

It said that soldiers applied the rules of engagement, arrested the infiltrator and referred him to the competent authorities.

The armed forces vowed to stand firmly against anyone trying to undermine the security of the Kingdom and its people, apply new rules of engagement and deal with full force with any attempt at infiltration or smuggling.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

Transport Minister, Wajih Azaizeh underlined the need to remove all obstacles and challenges that may face the passenger transport project between Zarqa and Amman in both directions.

Azaizeh gave his remarks during an inspection tour that included a field trip via a railway vehicle from Zarqa Station to Amman Station on Tuesday, attended by Jordan Hijaz Railway Corporation (JHRC) Director General, Zahi Khalil.

He said that transportation between the two destinations must to be safe and modern, keeping abreast with developments in this field globally, within strict schedules that meet citizens needs through a rail transportation network that saves them time and effort.

Following the tour, Azaizeh received Tourism Minister, Nayef Al Fayez, at the Amman Station, on a discussion JHRC previous experience in the Urdun Jannah program.

The two ministers stressed the need to lay down basic pillars and ways to add train trips to the program season for this year.

The visit included a field tour in which the two ministers were briefed on the JHRC’s preparation to receive passengers and the readiness of vehicles, machinery and locomotives.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY

The Lower House’s Energy and Mineral Resources Committee Tuesday discussed power outages which occurred during the snowstorm that swept across the Kingdom at the weekend.

Head of the committee Firas Al-Ajarmeh said lawmakers will pass recommendations to the Ministry of Energy to follow up on work by a consulting company that was tasked to evaluate the power grid and take a decision, including compensation for citizens who incurred losses by the power cuts and upgrading the electricity distribution companies’ capacity during the peak hours and their response to emergencies.

He said in a press release that the committee proposed a master plan to remove all obstacles to overhead and ground power lines and install a power control and monitoring (SCADA) system at the main stations of the national electricity company and air circuit breakers on low-voltage networks.

SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY