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AMMAN — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Monday held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan that focused on means of enhancing bilateral cooperation and regional and international issues of mutual interest. 

Safadi conveyed His Majesty King Abdullah’s regards to the Armenian leadership, and His Majesty’s keenness to develop bilateral cooperation in a way that reflects positively on both countries, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. 

For his part, the Armenian prime minister highlighted his eagerness to increase bilateral cooperation in all fields and expressed appreciation for King Abdullah’s efforts and the Kingdom’s role in enhancing security and stability and fighting terrorism. 

During their meeting, Safadi and Mnatsakanyan said that the two countries will work on increasing economic and trade cooperation and agreed to form a task force to establish a roadmap outlining the necessary steps to reach that goal, the statement said. 

The two ministers also highlighted the prospects for cooperation in the religious tourism, agriculture and pharmaceutical fields, in addition to the IT sector.

They also agreed to explore means of improving concerned entities’ access to these sectors through the coordination of the two foreign ministries.

In a joint statement following the talks that took place in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Safadi and Mnatsakanyan  underlined the deep-rooted, historical ties  between the two nations, and the shared desire to build upon them. 

The two ministers also reviewed regional and international developments of mutual interest and the efforts made to solve regional crises. 

Safadi stressed that Jordan will remain a voice for peace and moderation in the region.

He pointed to His Majesty’s efforts as custodian over the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem in enhancing interfaith dialogue. 

The minister stressed that the Palestinian issue remains the central issue, and that there is no way to resolve the conflict except through the two-state solution, which guarantees the rights of the Palestinian people to their own state along the June 4, 1967 lines, according to international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. 

Safadi warned of unilateral Israeli measures, which undermine the two-state solution and "all hopes" of realising peace. 

He condemned Israel’s decision to build new settlements in Hebron as a violation of international law and undermining of peace efforts.

As a result of regional crises, Jordan is hosting 1.3 million Syrian refugees, continuing to offer them humanitarian support until their safe return, he said, stressing the need to reach a solution to the Syrian crisis which restores the nation’s peace, security and stability. 

The Armenian foreign minister lauded the Kingdom’s humanitarian role in hosting refugees, adding that Jordan is a “model for its moderate policies”, the statement said.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah has sent a cable to Tunisian President Kais Saied, expressing condolences over the victims of the bus accident on Sunday in Ain Snoussi region.

 In the cable, King Abdullah expressed deepest sympathies to President Saied and the bereaved families, wishing the injured a speedy recovery, according to a Royal Court statement. 

AMMAN — Israeli citizen Konstantin Kotov, who infiltrated into the Kingdom in late October, has been referred to the State Security Court, an official source said on Sunday.

The Israeli man was charged with entering the Kingdom in an illegal way and in possession of narcotics, the source told the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The suspect’s trial is expected to commence on Monday.

The Foreign Ministry on October 29 announced that authorities had arrested an Israeli citizen who had infiltrated the Kingdom through its northern borders.

At the time, the ministry said the Israeli citizen was undergoing questioning, noting that he would be referred to the concerned authorities for the necessary legal action.

AMMAN — Petra has welcomed a total of 1,041,948 visitors during the first 11 months of 2019, compared with 757,038 visitors in the same period of 2018, marking an increase of 284,910 visitors and registering a 38 per cent growth.

According to statistics from the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA), Petra saw 152,576 visitors in November 2019, 141,556 of whom were foreigners, 10,776 were Arabs and 244 were student visitors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Petra saw 101,806 visitors in November 2018, 96,358 of whom were foreigners and 5,413 were Arabs. November 2019 saw a 47-per cent increase in foreign visitors and a 99-per cent increase in Arab visitors compared with November 2018.

PDTRA Chief Commissioner Suleiman Farajat said that Petra has been seeing “historic” numbers since the beginning of 2019, noting that November witnessed the most visitors and activity in the history of the site. 

Coinciding with the unprecedented touristic activity at the site, the hotel sector in the Petra area has seen notable activity. Hotels that closed their doors in previous years are back in business, and the region’s authority has received numerous investment requests in the hotel sector. Additionally, initial numbers indicate an increase of more than 500 rooms in 2020.

Commercial activity in the city has also boomed during 2019, which has been linked to increased touristic activity in Petra, and has created more jobs for the local residents while doubling the number of restaurants in the area.   

AMMAN — A Royal Decree has been issued, appointing Abdullah Toukan as adviser to His Majesty King Abdullah as of December 1, 2019, according to a Royal Court statement.

AMMAN — Former minister of state for prime ministry affairs and director general of the General Intelligence Department Gen. Mustafa Qaisi passed away on Sunday morning. Prime Minister Omar Razzaz eulogised the former minister, recounting his service and contributions to the Kingdom in all the positions he held, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The premier expressed his condolences to Qaisi’s family. Also on Sunday, Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Sami Daoud remembered the late official and expressed his condolences to his family, Petra reported.

Qaisi was appointed as director general of the General Intelligence Department in 1989, and a national security adviser for the late King Hussein in 1996. He was nominated to serve on the Senate in 2001, and was appointed minister of state for Prime Ministry Affairs in 2002.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Sunday passed the 2019 amendments to the law governing the service of Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) personnel who are not commissioned officers.

The amended law regulates a number of job-related issues including secondment, changes in some job titles, leaves of absence related to academic study and unpaid vacations, in addition to modifying allowances paid to civilian employees of the JAF, among others, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

MPs also referred the 2018 Audit Bureau Report to the Finance Committee and the Public-Private Partnership Law to the Economy and Investment Committee, while the Legal Committee received the amended bills of the Civil Defence Law, the Arab Convention for the Prevention and Combatting of Human Cloning 2019 for ratification and the bill of cancelling the 2019 law of land records.

AMMAN — Traffic diversions since the inception of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project works have turned the daily commute between Amman and Zarqa into a long trudge, road users complain.

Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh announced on several occasions that the construction of the BRT’s infrastructure will be finished by the end of 2020, while its operation will begin at the end of 2021.

"Finding solutions to the traffic problem in Jordan is a good step, but it was sort of late. It was executed without studying the repercussions of implementing the project, which caused traffic jams without offering temporary solutions,” Mahmoud Shamasseen, a civil engineer, told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

Shamasseen said that the traffic jams have “paralysed” vehicular movement around the capital, and wondered whether the projects currently being implemented “would serve the capital in the coming 20 years”.

Suhaib Rasmi, who lives in Zarqa and commutes regularly to Amman, said that whether he is driving a car or taking the bus, the commute has become “much worse” with the detours enforced in the last couple of months.

"The new detours are very annoying. From one detour to another, it takes me 45 minutes, not even the whole way," Rasmi said, adding: "I studied civil engineering and learned about roads and traffic, and honestly I do not believe that the BRT is a good solution for the traffic problem."

"Usually, a metro is an ideal solution and does not take much space, but the route made for this project took over two lanes, reducing roads of four lanes to only two on each side going to Amman," Rasmi said. 

"It is not only my body — my mental health is bad because of these detours. I've become angry all the time when leaving the house and on the way back," Hadeel Quran, another commuter, said.

She added that it takes her almost double the time to get to where she needs to be, compared to before.

For her part, Batool Fadi, who commutes from Zarqa to the University of Jordan, said that it used to take her a maximum of one hour to get to her lectures, but now it takes a minimum of an hour and a half. 

She added that the long commute times have caused back and neck pains for her and her friends, even those who get off the bus at Tabarbour, which is around the halfway point of the trip. 

AMMAN — Archaeology, not only in the Middle East but in the whole world, is “under the greatest threat”, said Director of Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) Robert Bewley. 

Speaking at the closing ceremony of a workshop organised by EAMENA and held at the Jordan Museum on Thursday, Bewley added: “If we do not know what is present on the ground and if we do not record it, we cannot protect it.”

With the collaboration of the University of Oxford, Jordan’s Department of Antiquities (DoA) and Palestine’s Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage (DACH) trained 10 DoA and 13 DACH staff on remote sensing applications of heritage recording, assessment and management for four weeks in November, according to organisers.

The workshop represents part of an advanced phase of training in endangered archaeology for Jordan and Palestine, training manager for EAMENA in Jordan and Palestine Azadeh Vafadari said, noting that over 4,000 sites have been recorded by Jordanian and Palestinian trainees.

The Cultural Protection Fund (CPF) was established in 2016 with the aim of creating sustainable opportunities for economic and social development and bulding capacity to foster, safeguard and promote cultural heritage affected by the conflict, Director of the British Council Jordan and Levant Joel Bubbers said at the event.

“The CPF was conceived as a result of those horrific events that we all remember in Syria when Daesh took Palmyra,” Bubbers noted, adding that the fund has financed 51 programmes in 12 of the region’s countries.

The event included presentations by the EAMENA advanced training participants and the opening of the EAMENA-CPF Exhibition at the Jordan Museum.

“Although the project covers the Middle East and North Africa, what was special about this training was that it brought together Jordanian and Palestinian trainees who are not only related by blood but their common cultural heritage,” Director General  of the DoA Yazid Elayan said at the event.

AMMAN — For the second year in a row, the Jordan Breast Cancer Programme (JBCP) has completed an advocacy training course in Maan and Mafraq governorates as part of its blended learning and behaviour change for local development project, with support from the EU's project for civil society organisations, according to a JBCP statement.

The three-day advocacy training course targetted community activists and media advocates in the two governorates, the statement said.

It falls within the overall objective of the EU support project to enhance the role of civil society in local development and support women’s participation in development processes in particular, the statement said, adding that the specific role of the course is to create a platform for partnerships within the local community and ensure civil society’s alignment with the national development plan.

Participants “will continuously use these advocacy skills in the future to change behaviours towards different topics”, for example, by supporting the implementation of the smoke-free law in public, lobbying and working to provide a supportive environment to help communities follow a healthy lifestyle and guaranteeing the rights of women to have high-quality early detection examinations across Jordan, according to the statement. 

The JBCP is a national programme under the leadership of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation and the King Hussein Cancer Centre. It orchestrates breast cancer early detection efforts nationwide, providing screening services to Jordanian women, and raising public awareness about breast cancer, the statement said.