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AMMAN — The second Brussels conference on "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" has issued a partnership document between Jordan and the international community, Planning and International Minister Imad Fakhoury said in a statement on Saturday.

The partnership aims to reaffirm the international community's long-term political and financial support for the Kingdom.

The document covers several points including progress made in implementing assistance commitments included in the Jordan Compact (JC), adopted during the 2016 London conference to support Syrian refugees and hosting countries.

It focused on the $1.7 billion financial commitments pledged in 2017 by the international community to support the Jordan Response Plan (JRP), which meet two thirds of Jordan’s needs. 

According to the document, the support should be implemented in accordance with the JC and includes sustained funding to the JRP 2018-2020, which covers both humanitarian and resilience needs of refugees and host communities with increased support to host communities’ priority capital expenditure projects.

JC also includes sustained level of grants and concessional loans, including those earmarked for budget-support. The aid, they said, should be made available on a multiyear basis and increase use and delivery of assistance through national capacities to implement assistance projects, cash assistance and purchases of national goods and services that add maximum value to the Jordanian economy.

Under the partnership, the international community will continue to work on expanding the donor base and use existing mechanisms, such as Trust Funds, including the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syria crisis, Global Concessional Financing Facility, Macro Financial Assistance and Development Policy Loans to provide concessional financing for budget support, in addition to the EU External Investment Plan, said the statement.

The success of this partnership is dependent upon the international community acknowledging Jordan’s role in hosting Syrian refugees, said Fakhoury, adding that this is a global public good that necessitates fair burden sharing. The support provided to Jordan, he said, should be proportionate to Jordan’s capacity and the magnitude of the impact of continued regional conflict and instability, external shock and prevailing economic conditions on the Kingdom. 

Also during the conference, the UK announced that it would host an international conference on Jordan towards the end of 2018 in London, according to the statement.

The conference aims to review progress made in Jordan’s financial and structural reforms, including the Economic Growth Plan 2018-2022 and the capital projects designed to improve the infrastructure and the public services that will be implemented through public-private sector partnerships.

Participants in the event will also work on mobilising more assistance to Jordan from investors and donors, according to the statement.

Brussels II brought together 86 delegations including 57 states, ten representatives of regional organisations and international financial institutions as well as 19 UN agencies, according to the statement.

AMMAN — The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a British-Swiss-Chinese consortium led by "A-One" company to implement a $1 billion panorama project (dubbed Al-Matal, meaning the view) on the southern shore of the Red Sea resort.

The agreement was signed on Saturday on behalf of the authority by its Chief Commissioner Nasser Shraideh and on behalf of the company implementing the project by its Kuwaiti CEO Ahmad Enezi, in the presence of Deputy Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Imad Hijazin, CEO of Aqaba Development Company Ghassan Ghanem and legal adviser to the consortium and legal representative in Jordan lawyer Salim Muhaisen, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Shraideh noted that the deal came days after His Majesty King Abdullah's visit to Aqaba and his directives to move ahead with the implementation of strategic plans to render Aqaba an international tourism, economic and investment hub.

The panorama project, which ASEZA chief described as one of the important tourism projects in Aqaba, entails an added value to the tourism industry and plays a role in enhancing Aqaba as a tourism destination in the Red Sea region.

He also stated that the authority has opened the door for investments in designated areas in Aqaba city and offered plots of lands for potential projects, including the panorama, which, he said, would create permanent jobs for Jordanians.

The project is also designed to optimise the use of beach through artificial lakes and cable cars that allow Aqaba visitors and tourists a distinctive view of the city and the sea, among other features.

Enezi said that the three-firm coalition signed the MoU after submitting technical and financial proposals for the project within a period that did exceed four months, in addition to the overall blueprint. 

He pointed out that representatives of the consortium had previously visited Aqaba and expressed admiration at the progress achieved, and the investment opportunities available in the city.

AMMAN — The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) is in “serious and advanced” talks with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to build a 220 megawatt High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTR) in the Kingdom, the commission’s Chairman Khaled Toukan said on Saturday.

An agreement for building the almost $1 billion worth helium gas-cooled reactor, a fourth generation reactor, is expected to be signed in 2019 between the two sides, Toukan told The Jordan Times in an interview on Saturday.

The JAEC is currently studying two locations for the reactor including one in the Aqaba Governorate, Toukan said.

“We are in advanced and serious talks with CNNC regarding this advanced and inherently safe reactor,” he told The Jordan Times.

A large state-owned enterprise under direct management by the central government of China, CNNC is the country’s only exporter of nuclear power plants and has already sold seven power units and eight reactors to seven countries. It is currently in talks with more than 40 other countries, according to its website.

According to Toukan, the Jordanian reactor is expected to be operational in 2025.

“This reactor is very efficient for electric power generation and can be used for water desalination, to process heat and can serve chemical industries as well as oil refineries,” Toukan stated.

He noted that several Jordanian banks, as well as regional investors, have shown interest in financing the reactor, adding that JAEC also has plans for several other small nuclear reactors.

“The JAEC is also discussing with several Small Modular Reactor [SMR] vendors in the UK, US, Russia and South Korea for building SMRs,” he said, underscoring that the talks with the Chinese “are at a much more advanced stage, since CNNC is currently building a demonstration project of the same reactor in China”.

The HTR reactor is nearing the completion of its construction by the end of this year when commissioning will start. It is expected to be connected to the electricity grid and go into commercial operation by the end of 2019, Toukan concluded.

AMMAN — Water officials and farmers on Saturday expressed relief over the weekend’s unusual downpour that filled an additional 15 million cubic metres (mcm) of water in the country’s dams.

Heavy rain across the country on Thursday and in some parts of the Kingdom on Friday, brought by unstable weather conditions, was a respite as it came late in an already below average and delayed rainy season, according to officials at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The rain pushed storage at the country’s 14 major dams halfway closer to reaching their total capacity of 336mcm and also revived the hopes of farmers and livestock breeders of ample irrigation water amounts.

Minister of Water and Irrigation Ali Ghezawi said that the recent rainfall and the floods it caused improved the performance of the wet season as it comes to an end with the start of May.

“More than 15 million cubic metres entered the dams in different parts of the country,” Ghezawi said, expecting a “better” supply of water for drinking and irrigation purposes, especially in the Jordan Valley.

With the Thursday-Friday rains, the accumulative rainfall this year increased to 86 per cent of the country’s annual long-term average of 8.1 billion cubic metres, Ghezawi said in a ministry statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

He noted that the northern Jordan Valley received the highest amount of rain, recording 60 millimetres.

“Until the morning of April 27, the dams held 42.3 per cent of their total storage capacity of 336mcm… In addition, the country’s ponds, sand dams and desert dams now store sufficient amount of water, which will help recharge the country’s underground water reserve,” Ghezawi noted.

Meanwhile, ministry spokesperson Omar Salameh said that with the recent rain, the water sector can heave a sigh of relief for several reasons.

“Rain during the 2017-2018 wet season not only started late but brought intermittent precipitation that was also less compared to previous years. And the mere fact that such good amounts of rain came at the end of the wet season is a reason to rejoice for us in the water sector,” Salameh told The Jordan Times.

The rainy season in Jordan usually starts late September or early October and ends on May 10th, which coincides with the end of the khamsini annual weather phenomenon, during which the country witnesses dusty weather and unstable weather conditions that bring rain.

Jordan Valley Farmers Union President Adnan Khaddam said that while the recent rain poses “no actual significance” to current cultivations in the Jordan Valley as the season is ending, floods that entered the dams would improve the quality of the stored water.

“Several millions of cubic metres of high quality water entered the dams; this gives us a state of reassurance as the rainy season bids us farewell,” Khaddam told The Jordan Times.

He noted that as the dams receive additional rainwater, salinity levels at the already stored water decline, which reflects well on the quality of crops cultivated from the water of the dams.

The rain is not only good news to the dams and irrigation, but also to cattle breeders who rely on natural pastures as a source of feed their animals.

Ubu Mrayed Atwan, a livestock breeder who takes his 200 heads of sheep and goats for grazing in empty lands in Amman every morning, said that the rain is great to prolong spring.

“More rain means richer pastures and thicker grass and also longer spring,” Atwan said as he sat on a hill guarding his sheep and goats grazing in an empty land in Arjan.

AMMAN — A new draft law on the management of waste is now in its final phases to becoming Jordan’s first separate contemporary waste management law that follows the international “polluter pays” principle, according to sector insiders.

Environment experts described the draft law as both “timely” and “imperative”, indicating that its core objective is to define the role of every government agency in the management process of waste and to unify the reference in this domain.

Ministry of Environment Secretary General Ahmad Qatarneh underlined that the new draft law regulates the relation and role of every institution, be it governmental or private, in the management process of waste.

“Under this new draft law, the role of every institution dealing with waste has become clear and this is rather important as we have in Jordan 13 agencies that tackle or are concerned with waste management,” Qatarneh told The Jordan Times.

Also this is the first time a law touches upon the waste to energy process, according to Qatarneh, describing it as “an important development”.

“The law encourages and regulates public-private partnership in waste management while tackling the issue of illegal and random dumping of waste at undesignated areas. Most importantly, it introduces stricter penalties against those who pollute the environment, whether individuals or facilities,” he underlined.

“We have completed discussions over the draft law with the Lower House’s committee on health and environment. It is now with the Cabinet, which will refer the final draft law to Parliament for final discussions,” the government official said.

President of the Jordan Environment Union  Omar Shoshan hailed the introduction of a separate contemporary waste management law based on the “polluter pays” principle, noting that it intensifies penalties on polluters and defines the role of every agency in the process of waste management.

“It is a good draft law; it is a milestone to have a separate law for the management of waste in Jordan. And what is also vital is that it made the role of every ministry clear in dealing with waste and gave the supervision role to the Ministry of Environment,” Shohan told The Jordan Times.

He highlighted the importance of introducing heftier fines against those who pollute, especially individuals who litter.

“In Jordan, we have sufficient control over industries when it comes to waste disposal, but what is lacking is effective control on individual littering. The draft is introducing heftier fines and I’m in favour of this to stem the phenomenon,” Shoshan said.

While the environment expert welcomed the draft law, describing it as “a progressive contemporary law”, he said that the law left out several grey areas unhandled.

“I wished that it tackled radioactive waste and sludge as those two domains should not have been excluded from the draft law,” Shoshan underlined.

Just as the draft law entails penalties against polluters, it should also have featured articles on “incentives” for those who abide by the law or entail motivations that encourage people to sort out waste for example, the environmentalist added. 

AMMAN — The general assembly at the Jordan Pharmacists Association (JPhA) on Friday formed a crisis management committee in order to address the recent amendments made by the legislative council to the draft system for the licensing of pharmaceutical institutions. 

The decision comes in light of the syndicate’s annual meeting, where JPhA President Zeid Kilani approved the escalation of measures against the approval of the amendments made “without prior consultation with the union”.

“The syndicate showed its keenness to discuss the new licensing system, but no invitations to participate in the dialogues were extended,” Kilani said, expressing “surprise” over the approval of new regulations prior to any negotiations with the union.

“Despite our insistence on holding a dialogue to come up with solutions together, the legislation council held its meeting on Thursday and approved changes in several clauses without consulting us,” he stressed.

For his part, JPhA Vice President Mohammad Abu Assab noted that “the amendments introduced by the council contradict the agreements that the syndicate had with the Health Ministry’s licences and professions department”. 

Street protests and the spread of messages across the media are some of the activities to be undertaken by the union against the approved amendments. 

“Nonetheless, we are still willing to sit with the legislative council and discuss the system in order to find a joint solution,” Kilani noted, stressing that the union will wait until Sunday to let the council share the new clauses with the JPhA. 

“If the new clauses are not up for discussion and negotiation by Sunday, the crisis management committee will start its lobbying programme,” he warned.

Earlier this month, the JPhA held a meeting in the presence of Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab and Minister of Justice Awad Abu Jarad to discuss the need to increase the minimum distance between pharmacies, which was set to be reduced to 200 metres in the new draft system. 

“Jordan is currently suffering from clusters of pharmacies concentrated in the same location, while citizens based in other areas have to take transportation from their homes to access a pharmacy,” Kilani told The Jordan Times, stressing that “the minimum distance between pharmacies should be raised to 500 metres if we want all citizens to be able to access the service while preventing competition and malpractice”.

The union’s president also called for changing the methods used to measure the distance between pharmacies, stating that “the techniques used so far allow human errors, while a GPS measurement system between coordinates would be more accurate”.

“It is surprising to see the government refusing to adopt this measure, especially considering King Abdullah’s mandate to adopt technology to enhance policies and procedures,” Kilani concluded.

AMMAN — The Criminal Court acquitted a 35-year-old man of charges of abducting and raping a married woman in Amman in December 2017, his lawyer said on Saturday.

The defendant was standing trial at the Criminal Court on charges of abduction, rape, assault, molestation and threatening of a married woman.

However, the tribunal decided to acquit the defendant of all charges “for lack of evidence”, his lawyer Eman Bataineh said.

“The court ruled in favour of my client since there was no strong evidence implicating him, and the victim gave contradictory statements about the alleged incidents,” Bataineh told The Jordan Times.

Court papers said the defendant met the victim, a mother of three children, via Facebook and they became very close.

“The victim had a fight with her husband during the same period and left the house for few days,” court documents said, adding that when the victim returned home, she “claimed that the defendant abducted and sexually assaulted her”.

The defendant, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, had stated that their close relationship was based on mutual consent by the victim, his lawyer said.

The court comprised of judges Ibrahim Bawareed, Ramzi Nawayeesh and Lafi Abu Tayeh.

The Criminal Court Prosecutor present in the courtroom when the verdict was read was Salah Taleb.

The verdict is subject to appeal by the general attorney at the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Housing and Public Works in 2018 will implement projects worth JD1.4 billion, Minister Sami Halasa said on Friday.

In an interview with Jordan TV’s 60 Minutes, Halasa noted that these schemes will contribute to stimulating the engineering, construction and housing sectors through employing Jordanian engineers and contractors to help boost the economic development process, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The minister referred to the rehabilitation project of the Desert Highway that received finance from the Saudi Fund for Development, noting that the road has several traffic detours where speed limits do not exceed 60 to 70 kilometres to ensure safe driving.

He pointed out that construction works at the road are expected to conclude by the end of 2019. The minister also referred to several projects in the health, education and infrastructure sectors.

AMMAN — The Finance Ministry on Saturday said it had issued the final statements of the government units for 2017 before the end of the constitutional period in June.

The financial data showed a deficit of JD96.8 million in the budgets of these units, where they recorded JD1.481 billion in revenues and JD1.578 billion in expenditures, including JD1.078 billion as current expenditures and JD500 million as capital expenditures, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, cited a ministry statement as saying.

Article 112/1 of the Constitution stipulates that the government has to present final statements within six months of the end of the previous fiscal year. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Social Democratic Party on Friday held its first general conference, and elected a new central council of 57 members and endorsed amendments to its by-law.

The conference included issuing a political report highlighting the party’s success in achieving unity and harmony, according to a party statement.

The report reiterated the centrality of the Palestinian issue and condemned the US decision recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, praising the Kingdom’s efforts in bringing back the Palestinian issue to the top of regional matters.

The report said that successive governments reproduce the same “helpless” policies, noting that raising prices and sales tax cannot help financial crises, but on the contrary reduce citizens’ purchasing power.