Local

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Monday received President of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti and the accompanying delegation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, attended by Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury, Mulki expressed Jordan's appreciation for the bank to choose it as the first country in the Arab region to host EBRD’s annual meeting, which is set to kick off by the end of May.

The prime minister stressed that Jordan is looking forward to the forum to discuss efforts and opportunities for supporting economic growth in the Kingdom to help it overcome the challenges and repercussions resulting from hosting Syrian refugees.

Mulki also valued the bank's activities and investments in Jordan, pointing out that there are promising opportunities and prospects for future cooperation between the two sides, stressing Jordan's keenness on benefitting from EBRD's "longstanding expertise" in areas of vocational and technical training, youth rehabilitation in refugee-hosting communities as well as training Syrian refugees in professions that would contribute to the reconstruction and development of Syria once the situation is right for their repatriation.

He also highlighted the possibility of establishing a logistics centre in Jordan to serve parties involved in the reconstruction of Iraq and Syria, noting that the EBRD’s participation in the facility envisioned will be highly welcomed considering the expertise and potentials the bank enjoys.

For his part, Chakrabarti expressed interest in enhancing the bank’s Jordan-based activities, praising the Kingdom’s efforts in facilitating and ensuring the success of EBRDs projects.

The president also cited EBRD’s various activities and investment projects in Jordan, mainly in the fields of renewable energy, water, sanitation, infrastructure and urban transport, adding that the bank’s investment portfolio in Jordan has so far reached one billion euros since 2012.

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), HRH Prince Feisal on Monday opened the Middle East Special Operations Commanders Conference (MESOC).

The conference, titled "Hybrid Warfare at Grey Zones — the Changing Operational Environment", precedes the Special Operations Forces Exhibition (SOFEX) 2018 scheduled to kick off Tuesday under Royal Patronage at the King Abdullah I Airbase, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The conference, which saw the participation of 600 defence ministers, commanders-in-chief, senior special operation teams, ground and air forces from the region, in addition to a number of decision-makers and strategists specialised in national security, focused on topics related to defence, special operations and national security industries.

During the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Freihat said that the JAF, under directives from His Majesty King Abdullah, has begun implementing a series of five-year plans to restructure its forces' formation.

The plans aim to enhance capabilities and efficiency of the forces in order to deal with current and future challenges, Freihat said, adding that they also seek to improve the defence capabilities to face hybrid warfare and grey zone conflicts, which require "focusing on efficiency, skills, training, and partnerships with brotherly countries".

The commander-in-chief outlined the "modern" challenges of war operations, especially cyber operations, as well as funding, tactical and technical issues, among others.

In a separate press conference, SOFEX Director Amer Tabaa said that the exhibition will host 750 participants from 62 countries.

The event represents the biggest defence exhibition focused on special operations and national security in the Middle East and North Africa, Tabaa said, noting that it showcases all equipment and machinery of participating countries used by special operations, peacekeeping and security forces, in addition to defence facilities and field training. 

Over the past 22 years, SOFEX has been witnessing a growing success, Tabbaa said, noting that this three-day exhibition showcases the latest equipment, technologies and innovations in the fields of special operations, national security and defence industries, with the participation of King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau.

On the sidelines of the conference, Freihat met with his counterparts of Croatia, Guinea, Mexico and Greece, in addition to chairman of the Pakistani Heavy Industries Taxila Group. Freihat discussed with them means of enhancing cooperation in military fields.   

AMMAN — For eight years, Eman Toufic had been preparing meals and pickles for Ramadan and other family occasions while nurturing the dream of establishing her own restaurant in her hometown Tafileh, 183 kilometres southwest of Amman.

In 2010, the mother of six had managed to save enough money from her work at home to open her own business, becoming the first female restaurant owner and manager.

“The community and my family even were totally refusing the idea of a woman working in a restaurant from 7 am until 7 pm, but, after all these years working so hard, I was able to prove them and myself that I had the ability and skills to run a restaurant from A to Z,” Toufic told The Jordan Times, voicing her pride to have made “her dream come true”.

In 2016, a service provider assigned by USAID Local Entreprise Support Project (LENS) visited her restaurant, asking her about her business legal formality, the products she serves, and her willingness to attend training focused on the restaurant industry and hospitality. 

"They asked me about my commitment to the business and my desire to attend a variety of trainings to improve my business. I filled out a questionnaire and to my biggest surprise, I think that I met their selection criteria as I was accepted into their training programme," Toufic recalled with enthusiasm.

 “This support from USAID LENS enabled me to expand my business and make it as a successful restaurant owner and manager. I learned how to set budgets and market my business through trainings on financial management, food packaging, customer service, menu design and planning skills, among other topics,” she recounted, adding that they also provided her with an in-kind grant to purchase the equipment needed for her facility in November 2017.

But the impact of the programme expanded well beyond a financial upgrade for her facility; Toufic was recently awarded the title of “perfect mother” and one of “the most 100 prominent women in Tafileh” by Hussein University and Mutah University, in acknowledgment of her dedication towards her household, her community and her local area as a whole.

“I never expected to receive such popularity among my community and it is so gratifying to hear that people see me as an example of success and consistency,” Toufic commented, encouraging people, especially women, to “keep doing what they love in spite of all challenges and difficulties until they achieve their dreams and ambitions”.

"I am now thinking of transferring my knowledge to the new generations and to my female peers to give them, too, an opportunity to achieve their dreams," she said.

The successful entrepreneur is now looking forward to receiving more customers as her reputation reached the Amman Governorate and to expand her restaurant by establishing branches all over the Kingdom.

“If you have the will, nothing can affect your success and determination,” stressed the mother of six, who is now proudly contributing to her household's financial needs and helped provide for her sons’ university education.

AMMAN — A drop in temperature is expected on Tuesday with relatively cold conditions and partially cloudy skies, where rainfall is anticipated in the northern, central and parts of the eastern regions of the Kingdom, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) forecast on Monday.

Downpour is expected to be heavy in the northern region, and can be accompanied with thunder and lightning with western moderate to brisk winds, according to a JMD statement. 

By night time, weather will gradually stabilise, with a chance of showers in the northern region of the country. Fog formation is expected in mountainous areas during the late night hours.

Temperatures on Tuesday are forecast to range between 24ºC and 13ºC in Amman, and mercury levels are expected to range between a high of 31ºC and low of 22ºC in Aqaba.

On Monday, education director in the northeastern Badia decided to halt the school day as of 10am, according to Education Ministry Spokesperson Walid Jallad. 

Aqaba Education Director Khaled Thneibat made a similar announcement that included schools in Quweirah and Deiseh, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jallad said that these decisions were made in coordination with stakeholders to maintain the safety of students under the prevailing weather conditions.

Also on Monday, the Public Security Department (PSD) stopped traffic on Ruweished Road due to the heavy dust and lack of vision. 

PSD will reopen traffic on the street once vision levels are safe for motorists, calling on drivers to submit to security officers stationed in the area, Petra added.

The Tafileh Tourism Directorate on Monday announced closing Afra site for tourists after the area witnessed flash floods and accumulation of rubble in the valley.

Tourism Director Khloud Jarabaa said that the decision to close the site was also taken following the damage of wooden umbrellas and several other facilities, stressing that the location will be reopened during the next few weeks, according to Petra.  

AMMAN — Youth development NGO INJAZ and the Canadian embassy in Amman on Sunday inaugurated the Launching Economic Achievement Programme for Women in Jordan, an initiative aimed at identifying and addressing the challenges faced by women in the labour market across the Kingdom. 

Launched in collaboration with the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and the Ryerson University in Canada, the project seeks to enhance the role of women in the economic development process while promoting a culture of gender equality in various fields. 

“Although Jordan is facing several economic challenges such as the scarce natural resources and the regional instability, we shall remember that the real wealth of a nation lies in its human capital,” INJAZ CEO Deema Bibi said during the ceremony, stressing “when youth and women are empowered and the environment allows for innovation, none of the aforementioned challenges can stop the economic advancement of our country”.

“Because of this, we should focus on fixing other issues present on the ground and find solutions to problems such as unemployment, low female participation in the Jordanian labour market and the minimal percentage of female entrepreneurs,” she added. 

“There are only a few countries in this world as generous and resilient as Jordan,” Canadian Ambassador Peter MacDougall said, expressing pride in "supporting this project not only because of its focus on women, but because of the ways in which it fosters innovation and entrepreneurship”.

The three-year project will target schools, universities, colleges and youth centres to enable women to establish their own projects and enhance their opportunities in the local labour market. 

The first pillar of the initiative will supports the development of a series of programmes for the achievement of entrepreneurship at schools and universities through the integration of the concept of gender in their curricula, establishing a joint cooperation between Jordanian and Canadian universities aimed at using the Canadian experience to improve the role of women in the entrepreneurial environment. 

Assistant vice president at the Ryerson University thanked all partners for “making this project a reality and creating a space for women entrepreneurs in Jordan”.

As a second pillar, the project will support INJAZ in the launching of a business incubator providing training spaces, meeting rooms and private service offices for the benefit of female entrepreneurs. 

The incubator is designed to be a “supportive, stimulating and innovative environment that caters to the basic needs of those who wish to establish their entrepreneurial ventures”, according to INJAZ. 

Vice president of international partnerships at CBIE Basil Alashi highlighted the importance of “unleashing the potential of women in the economy”, adding that “together, we can change the culture and practices in the Jordanian private sector, and hopefully motivate other countries to follow”.

The third pillar of the initiative will entail the launch of a nationwide campaign calling on citizens to support the role of women in the labour market through seminars held in cooperation with several civil society organisations to analyse the reality of working women in Jordan. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday received a phone call from Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, according to a Royal Court statement. Both leaders reviewed bilateral relations and regional developments.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has dealt with 11 abandoned buildings in the capital, classified by inspectors as "becoming a public health hazard", the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

GAM's public safety committees, headed by Amman's governor, have worked on locating the derelict buildings and taking the necessary measures to address them in accordance with the law.

Owners of the abandoned buildings are required to bear the costs of cleaning up and sealing down abandoned buildings, as well as the costs of demolishing properties that pose threats to public safety due to collapse concerns, according to Petra.

The municipality commended the efforts of the citizens who responded to its request, calling on other owners and residents to monitor their properties and report derelict buildings through the various available GAM's media channels.

AMMAN — Deputising for the Prime Minister, Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Al Momani on Monday inaugurated the "Media Governance in the Arab Countries: Media Legislation, Education and Professionalism" conference, in the presence of a number of Jordanian and Arab academics and researchers, the Jordan News, Agency, Petra, reported.

The two-day event is organised by the Middle East University Faculty of Media in partnership with the Jordan Media Commission and Arab Universities Governance Council.

Momani, who is also the government's spokesperson, said that media governance is based on transparency and citizen's freedom to express their stances and opinions in accordance with the law in a way that serves the community, stressing the media's role in fostering these interpretations. He highlighted importance of the conference in clarifying the concept of media governance, its principles and mechanisms. 

AMMAN — Jubilee School classmates Raneem Saman and Malak Issa decided to make use of a newly established facility which is part of the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) to expand their creativity and invention methods.

The two 10th graders decided to utilise TechWorks, a fabrication laboratory which is part of CPF’s flagship innovation platform to encourage technical education by providing the right tools, talents, resources, and institutions to young people, as well as a level-playing field on which to compete. 

“The school encouraged us to come here to develop our ideas and create something new," Saman remembered, adding, "it really helped me with shaping up my personality and meeting new people."

Saman designed a smart voltmeter measuring the level of power and voltage in any battery with a 0.05 per cent tolerance.

“I used a bridge circuit to accurately measure the analog input of any battery voltage.  It is higher than the accuracy of any devices that we have at home,” Saman told The Jordan Times, expressing her delight to see HRH Crown Prince Hussein visit the TechWorks premises to listen to “our ideas and innovations”.

“I really appreciate that Prince Hussein provided us with such a facility to develop our ideas and inventions and to get the chance to meet him in person to tell him about my project,” Saman said, voicing her hope to further develop the project in the future and make it more beneficial so that “people can make more use of it".

Issa’s project, dubbed "Iris mechanism", is used to make wooden objects rotate on a specific circular track. 

“I decided to work on this project because it is the same mechanism that has been used in the digital sliding mechanism for the opening,” Issa explained, noting that the TechWorks facility helped her in creating the material used in her invention through a 3D printer.

“I am planning to develop this project so that people can use different forms of Iris mechanisms as decorations at their homes because it gives some form of beauty to any place you use it. It has different changing shapes and forms,” Issa pointed out. 

AMMAN — The dedication of the 16-year-old Hour Amawi  to raise awareness towards autism children inspired her to initiate a project aimed minimising the effect of irritating sounds on autistic children. 

Awami recalled that she and her colleague held a sound therapy exposure for four weeks, making the children listen to the voices that irritated them for several times.

“Later their response to these voices was positive. We wanted to provide them with a normal life,” she said with a smile.  

Amawi’s project was selected with other 11 projects to qualify into the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held in the US next week. 

Issa Enshywat, the director of education programmes at Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation (AHSF), said since 2015 the foundation and the Ministry of Education have been cooperating in regard to this competition. 

“The foundation finances the travel expenses of the students, their accommodation in addition to helping them to present their projects and finance the development of their projects,” he told The Jordan Times during the opening of an exhibition that showcased the winning projects in Amman on Sunday. 

A total of 12 projects created by 20 students, who came from public and private schools, and were aged between 16 and 18 years old, were displayed at the event. 

“Around 290 students took part in a local competition which selected the winning projects,” the AHSF official said. 

The Minister of Education Omar Razzaz attended the exhibition, where he had a tour at the exhibition that was held at the premises of the foundation in Amman.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, Razzaz said the ministry is planning to focus on the creative part of students and enhance them out of its believe that the practical side is important in the educational process.  

 “These projects target physics, energy and water issues. Last year Jordan won five trophies out of 12 projects intentionally,” Enshywat said.  

Ahmad Laymoun a student from Karak, said his project that he worked on with his brother was tasked with transforming grape leaves into useful materials. 

“We wanted to do it because when they are in the ground they caused problems for people so instead of getting rid of them we wanted to take advantage of  grape leaves,” the 16-year-old told The Jordan Times. 

He urged institutions that support projects to promote themselves so that students can learn about them and ask for their projects to be financed.