Jordan’s way to success

His Majesty King Abdullah’s interview on CNN, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, highlighted a number of challenges facing Jordan and the country’s determination to face them.

A major concern for the Kingdom, as well as for the Middle East, which has “the largest youth cohort in history”, is to attract investments that are crucial to creating jobs for the young population.

“We’re talking about 25 million jobs in the next decade,” said the King, adding that Jordan’s export has been its human talent, “tech-savvy, bilingual”, but now it has to work to “adapt Jordan and our young population to be able to take advantage of that”, which should not be difficult because a “small country to be able to adapt to the region’s challenges is something that we have been usually fairly successful in being able to do”.

Another important challenge is energy, for the production of which Jordan is almost entirely dependant on imports.

However, Jordan has “learned lessons because of regional turmoil” and is seeking to invest in alternative energy “which is going to make Jordan into a powerhouse”.

“We are gifted with 300 days of the year with beautiful sunshine, and because we are an energy-importing country, renewables are going to be very important… And we are targeting to be an exporter of renewable energies to Europe and beyond,” said the King.

Jordan has been constantly searching for diversified forms of energy, the cost of which at this point in time accounts for about 18 per cent of the GDP.

As is, Jordan imports 97 per cent of its energy needs now. The King’s statement sends a clear signal to policy makers of where he wants the country to go in its search to end the energy crisis.

With Jordan determined to attain a 7.5 per cent economic growth in 10 years’ time, Jordanians, particularly the youth, will not have to seek work opportunities in foreign lands.

Brain drain has been one of the biggest and most costly problems of the country, and keeping the country’s young professionals by creating appropriate job opportunities would make the Kingdom an important hub and end the dependence on neighbouring economies to absorb highly trained Jordanians.