Jordan celebrates 24th anniversary of King’s coronation

AMMAN — The Kingdom on Friday celebrates the 24th anniversary of His Majesty King Abdullah’s coronation.

Since the King assumed his constitutional powers in 1999, His Majesty has paid careful attention to the Jordanian State with a focus on improving citizens' standard of living and making the country a home for trade, investment, leadership and creativity.

The King's commitment to reforming the country's economy was among his highest priorities. Jordan was incorporated into the world economy through agreements with various economic blocs, and creating broader aspects of excellence, achievement, creativity and self-reliance.

Thanks to King Abdullah's great efforts, Jordan received the attention of investors, employers and large companies, leading to the Kingdom’s status as a home for trade and investment, and a venue for numerous global economic forums, notably the World Economic Forum.

The anniversary of the coronation demonstrates important features of national cohesion between the people and the Hashemite leadership, reflecting the belief that Jordan is always able to overcome difficulties and work towards its economic goals and development achievements, upholding the nation and its institutions, and improving the lives of its citizens so that they can form a promising future together.

Despite all difficulties faced by the national economy in light of the ramifications of local, regional and global conditions, the challenges of unemployment, the scarcity of resources and the population increase following the migration of refugees from neighbouring countries, the Kingdom is proceeding ahead towards the future under His Majesty's leadership.

The King’s insightful economic vision charges the public and private sectors with taking on the serious responsibilities of transforming the national economy’s challenges into opportunities by attracting more foreign investment and encouraging the expansion of local investments to provide jobs for Jordanians and improve the living conditions of citizens.

His Majesty adopted the concept of transforming challenges into opportunities by promoting the power of Jordan’s human resources and service sectors in the international arena. Likewise, King Abdullah has focused on facing the crises that have stormed both the world and the Kingdom head on, and adopting open economic strategies.

In a message addressing the people on the occasion of His Majesty’s 60th birthday last year, King Abdullah called for identifying and implementing effective steps to attract foreign investment, stimulate national investment and develop a clear roadmap with a set timeline to overcome obstacles hindering private sector growth. His Majesty also called for addressing institutional shortcomings in state administration.

In his message, King Abdullah directed stakeholders to develop a comprehensive vision and a solid roadmap for the coming years, which will ensure that the country’s potential is utilised to achieve inclusive growth, expand the middle class and raise the standard of living to guarantee a better quality of life for citizens.

The Economic Modernisation Vision, launched following Royal directives, seeks to increase employment opportunities for

Jordanians from 1.6 million jobs to 2.6 million jobs by 2033. 

The vision focuses on accelerated growth and quality-of-life enhancement with a sustainable approach across eight drivers of economic growth, covering 35 key sectors and subsectors, comprising more than 366 initiatives, 10 performance measurement benchmarks and four implementing actors within a sequential and phased timeframe, at a cost of JD41 billion.

The vision will be implemented in three phases, with the first to be instituted between 2022 and 2025 with a focus on economic and social policy improvements, leveraging and strengthening existing resources and skills and entering new markets 

The second phase will be implemented between 2026 and 2029 with a focus on new resources, products and skills, and the third between 2030 and 2033, which will seek to fill any strategic gaps and preparing for the expected future growth phase.

The Economic Growth Pillar seeks to achieve the vision three goals of accommodating more than one million young men and women in the labour market, increasing per capita income by an average of 3 per cent per year and improving Jordan’s ranking in the Global Competitiveness Index to the top 30th percentile. 

On the other hand, the Quality of Life Pillar seeks to double the percentage of Jordanians satisfied with their quality of life, to

reach 80 per cent, have one Jordanian city ranked among the top 100 cities in the world and improve Jordan’s ranking in the Legatum Prosperity Index to the top 30th percentile.