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AMMAN — The Awqaf Ministry on Sunday launched the 37th international scientific conference to outline the content of the Amman Message, which saw the participation of 40 imams and preachers from 15 countries.

Awqaf Minister Wael Arabiat said that the Amman Message is inspired by the tolerant values of Islam that respect humanity and civilisation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Arabiat said that the message is not restricted to Arabs or Muslims, and that it addresses the entire humanity by encompassing all human values.

Deputy mufti of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army Ibrahim Abu Iqab said that the message, part of  His Majesty King Abdullah's vision, focuses on the values of Islam which rejects extremism and calls for moderation and the acceptance of others.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday endorsed the draft state budget law for 2018, with a foreseen increase in the domestic revenues to cover 98.9 per cent compared with 92.5 in 2017.

According to the draft, the domestic revenues are estimated at JD8.496 billion, of which JD7.796 billion comes from domestic sources and JD700 million from  foreign grants, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

The budget planners also see a slight expansion of 3.2 per cent in spending and an estimated deficit of JD688 million. In figures, public spending for next year is estimated to reach JD9.039 billion, up by JD572 million over public expenditure reestimated for 2017, including JD7.886 billion as current spending and JD1.153 as capital expenditures.

The latter covers several capital projects in partnership with the private sector.

The increase in current spending, which accounted for 6 per cent, is a result of settling dues of previous years and the routine annual increase in the salaries of public employees and the public debt service.  
The deficit before foreign financial assistance is expected to stand at JD1.243 billion, accounting for 1.8 per cent of GDP and shrinking to JD543 million with the grants.
The general budget is built to enhance the social security network by increasing social aid from JD702.4 million last year to JD788.8 million in 2018.

The law comes in line with the national programme for financial and structural reform and the implementation of the decentralisation programme through preparing capital budgets for governorates.

The Cabinet also endorsed the draft budget laws of governmental units, Petra said.
Revenues of these agencies are estimated to reach JD1.372 billion, while their spending is expected to be around JD1.187 billion, achieving a rare surplus when the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) and the Water Authority of Jordan’s debts are excluded. The two utility companies’ revenues are estimated to stand at JD292 million, while their spending will be JD626 million with a deficit of JD334 million, compared with JD258 million in 2017, according to the report. 

The total deficit of the general budget and the governmental units’ budgets is estimated to stand at JD831 million or 2.8 per cent of the GDP, compared with JD1.035 billion or 3.6 per cent of the GDP last year.

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Sunday stressed Jordan's keenness to support the Palestinian cause, noting that the Hashemite custodianship is the legitimate guardian of Jerusalem's holy shrines, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During a meeting with British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden, Tarawneh noted that Jerusalem has been witnessing waves of illegal settlements, and the frequent Israeli violations against Palestinian land, people and holy sites will fuel extremism and terrorism.

Tarawneh also pointed out the fundamental steps taken by the Lower House to have an effective role in global and regional parliamentary organisations.

For his part, Oakden said that the UK is keen on developing bilateral relations with Jordan, emphasising on the importance of global assistance to Jordan. He also stressed the importance of investing in Jordan, and the role of the private sector in encouraging it. 

AMMAN — Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi on Sunday discussed over the phone regional developments with US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Safadi and Tillerson went over bilateral ties and cooperation between Jordan and the US. 

They discussed progress in establishing de-escalation zones in the south of Syria through the tripartite talks of Jordan, the US and Russia, in addition to the humanitarian situation in Syria. 

The officials stressed their countries’ support for the upcoming Geneva talks organised by the UN to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

The conversation also addressed a number of regional issues, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the war on terrorism, and developments in Lebanon, where they stressed the importance of preserving its security and independence. 

AMMAN — Young people from across the globe on Saturday gathered at the UN headquarters in New York for a two-day validation consultation aimed at presenting key findings and recommendations from the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) conducted throughout 2017.

Organised as the final stage of a series of discussions that started in December 2016, the event seeks to reflect on the seven regional consultations held with selected youth in the Arab world, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa and Europe.

"This grassroots consultation is essential in challenging the current narrative of youth being the problem or the danger in the heated parts of the world," said Barik Mhadeen, the Jordanian representative of the Arab regional study group.

A prominent peacemaking activist, the 24-year-old took part in the Arab world regional consultation held in December 2016. "This is a historic move and it is especially relevant for us: the youth in the Arab world,” he told The Jordan Times ahead of the conference, adding: “Because our region has been through so much conflict and instability, youth involvement in peacemaking is really an area that should be on top of the national agendas. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet seen that happen as it should have."

With around 30 per cent — 105 million people — of the Arab population being between 15 and 29 years of age, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Arab Human Development Report 2016, the issue of youth contribution to peacemaking has become crucial.

Mhadeen, who was born in Karak in southern Jordan, voiced his pride to see Jordan take a leading role in the Progress Study, “in line with the vision of HRH Crown Prince Hussein”. 

“We have been deeply involved in this process, starting from the Amman Youth Declaration formulated at the Global Youth Forum held in Jordan in 2015,” he said, noting that the declaration “completely feeds into the UN Resolution on YPS”.

Adopted in December 2015, the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on YPS mandated the secretary general “to carry out a progress study on the youth’s positive contribution to peace processes and conflict resolution, in order to recommend effective responses at local, national, regional and international levels”, according to the UN website.

The resolution seeks to tackle the issue of youth participation in policymaking at a time when the vast majority of young people are being excluded from — or on the margins of — policymaking, a phenomenon further heightened in areas of conflict, where young men are predominantly perceived as primary perpetrators of violence while young women are seen as passive victims, a statement by Youth4Peace said.

A multi-stakeholder partnership between the UNDP, the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), Search for Common Ground (SfCG) and the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY), Youth4Peace seeks to be the platform promoting and supporting the implementation of the UN Resolution 2250, according to its website.

“Because we are youth ourselves, who went through some of the same experiences and faced similar challenges, it is much easier for the young public to relate. They trust us because, for once, they feel like their voice is being heard,” the young Jordanian said, commending the grassroots horizontal approach adopted by the resolution.

Along with the seven regional consultations, over 120 focus group discussions have been conducted with “hard-to-reach youth” in 12 countries, in addition to a global survey and youth mapping.

The two-day UN Validation Consultation event is “an opportunity to improve and confirm the key messages and recommendations of the progress study from young people’s perspective,” the organisers’ statement said, noting that the open discussions combining diverse regional perspectives will help in better understanding the realities and priorities of young people.

A series of key messages and recommendations agreed upon by youth participants will be drafted as an outcome of the consultation, to help produce an operational and strategic report proposing a forward-looking agenda for the international community. 

“I can see a lot of change happening in the next 5 to 10 years, especially in the MENA region. It is clear that we are now at a shifting point, and I really have at heart to build a future on a positive dynamic alongside all those youth,” Mhadeen concluded.

AMMAN (JT) — HRH Princess Muna on Saturday honoured mothers and partners of the Families and Friends Society of Persons with Disabilities (FFSPD), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The annual charity event, attended by Social Development Minister Hala Lattouf, included an exhibition of the society and its members’ products.

Reema Zuraiqat, the FFSPD's founder, expressed appreciation of the Princess' care and support for the society's humanitarian and development endeavours to support people with disabilities.

For her part, Riham Zuraiqat, the society's deputy president, noted that the FFSPD is planning to open a physiotherapy centre.

FFSPD was established in 1994 to serve people with disabilities and help them integrate into the society.

AMMAN — Haqiq, an initiative by Crown Prince Foundation (CPF), on Saturday carried out the first elections for the initiative’s boards of directors in the governorates.

The voting took place in seven areas — Irbid, Mafraq, Jerash, Amman, Balqa, Karak, Maan — while the board presidents and members won uncontested in five other governorates; namely, Ajloun, Zarqa, Madaba, Tafileh and Aqaba, the Jordan News Agency, Petra,reported.

The 70 winners, aged between 16 and 20 years old, are all graduates of Haqiq training programme and their mandate is to organise voluntary youth activities. 

The boards are expected to arrange a voluntary activity and a project each month in line with a quarterly plan whose main guidelines are set by CPF. In total, the youth bodies will organise 288 activities and functions across the Kingdom. 

Each board will select the activities that are compatible with their quarterly goal and towards the year-end, the 12 boards will compete for prizes dedicated for the best voluntary project within the set goal for the year in question. 

Candidates speaking to Petra on Saturday praised the move and the plan, saying that the elected boards have been created to embody the vision of HRH Crown Prince Hussein and a model of partnership among national institutions, mainly the Ministry of Education, to serve the country’s national interests.

According to its literature, Haqiq is a five-step national leadership programme for ninth and tenth graders. 

It was established to “realise our youth’s commitment to becoming successful leaders in their local communities”. After selecting students from public schools in every governorate, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, our participants benefit from a programme model built on training workshops, field visits and camps that call on youth to engage with their peers and communities throughout Jordan. 

“As future agents of change, Haqiq’s graduates embody the programme’s values, including integrity, resilience, learning from failure, commitment, hard work, focus, responsibility, open-mindedness and self-confidence.”

AMMAN — Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on Saturday discussed regional developments and the pan-Arab action, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

During the meeting, which preceded the urgent meeting of the Arab foreign ministers upon the request of Saudi Arabia, Safadi and Shoukry discussed means to boost joint action of Arab countries to face the common challenges, deal with the regional crises and enhance security and stability. 

For his part, Shoukri briefed Safadi on his tour of Arab countries and progress in efforts to materialise Palestinian reconciliation and push for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.

Talks also addressed developments in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Libya, as well as bilateral relations between Jordan and Egypt.

AMMAN — The government has reached an agreement with a US company to establish a logistical airport in Mafraq, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yarub Qudah said on Saturday. 

Opening the third Silk Road Conference, which is organised by the Palestinian-Jordanian Business Forum, Qudah added that a logistical centre will also be established in Mafraq, 80km northeast of Amman, to become a major base for reconstruction projects in the region, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He noted that the government had prepared a plan with the World Bank to render the Kingdom a main platform for regional reconstruction projects, in cooperation with other countries in the neighbourhood.

The minister, who opened the conference on behalf of Prime Minister Hani Mulki, said that the government will implement recommendations of the conference, which will contribute to promoting bilateral ties and removing obstacles facing cooperation among businesspeople.

In this regard, he urged businessmen to consider economic opportunities in the region and leave governments to address challenges.

Qudah described the conference as a real platform to develop cooperation, partnerships and commercial agreements among participating businesspeople, urging them to focus on entrepreneur opportunities involving youth who can offer “outstanding and feasible” ideas.

He added the government had prepared and approved a legislation package that helps improve the business environment in the Kingdom, including laws on companies, inspection and oversight, financial securities and intellectual property, among others.

The minister noted that the national economy is based on openness and economic liberation, while the trade agreements the Kingdom has entered with regional and international partners secure access to more than 1.2 billion consumers at preferential terms. 

Jordanian-Palestinian Business Forum Chairman Talal Al Bau said that the government has produced laws that help provide the facilities needed by local and foreign investors.

He said the presence of businessmen from 30 countries underlines the fact that Jordan is rich in investment opportunities and is an attractive and secure investment destination.

Bau said that the forum, which comprises 250 member businessmen, looks at openness to the Palestinian market as a higher Jordanian interest and has to be supported to get rid of dependency on the Israeli economy, whose annual exports to Palestine amount to $5 billion.

President of the Jordan Businessmen Association Hamdi Tabbaa voiced hope that the conference, which is attended by 500 businessmen from 30 Arab and foreign countries, will succeed in promoting the Kingdom as a regional investment centre and exchanging expertise among participants.

Tabbaa noted that business entrepreneurship and start-up projects are the major contributors to economic development, while poverty and unemployment are the main challenges in the Arab world.

Khalil Rizeq, president of the Palestinian union of commercial, industrial and agricultural chambers, said that Jordan is Palestine’s gateway to the world, noting that achieving economic growth is a main motive behind efforts to enhance the resilience of Palestinians and help them face Israeli policies. 

Investing in Palestine is a religious, national, moral and social responsibility of the private sectors in the Arab and Islamic worlds, he said, calling for holding joint investment projects with the Palestinian private sector.

Rizeq urged Jordanian and Palestinian businesspeople to increase the volume of trade exchange that stood in 2016 at JD126 million.

UM QAIS — Jordanian athlete Mohammad Al Sweity and British runner Alfie Pearce-Higgins on Friday embarked on the first ever attempt to run the 650-kilometre-long Jordan Trail, passing through 52 villages across the Kingdom.

The 15-day run is organised by the Jordan Trail Association (JTA) in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism, the Jordan Tourism Board, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority and USAID’s Building Economic Sustainability through Tourism Project. 

The course was inaugurated under the patronage of Tourism Minister Lina Annab, who expressed her wish for the runners’ journey “to show people how much our beautiful country has to offer”.

“Tourism is a key economic driver for us in Jordan, and we rely heavily on inbound tourism from all over the globe,” Annab continued, highlighting that “adventure tourism has greatly contributed to showcasing to the world the stunning diversity of sites in Jordan.”

For her part, JTA Chairperson Muna Haddad said that “the Jordan Trail showcases the wealth of historical and archaeological sites in our country and celebrates the stark diversity in Jordan’s landscapes and cultural localities.”

“Fewer than 20 people have hiked the full length of the trail in one go,” continued Haddad, expressing that “it is very exciting to support Alfie and Muhammad in their quest to be the first to run it.”

Sweity is one of Jordan’s renowned trail runners, having won the second place at the India Ultra Marathon (195km). The athlete has competed several long-distance runs across the globe, including the American Badwater Marathon (217km) and the Marathon des Sables in Morocco (251km). 

“Jordan has some of the finest trails for running in the world,” said the athlete at the inauguration of the run, expressing his hopes to “encourage more people to visit and experience the wonders of my country’s mountains and deserts”.

For his part, Pearce-Higgins has completed many races and expeditions, including running across the Gobi Desert (2016), driving across Asia (2012) and Africa (2013), cycling across Sierra Leone, and canoeing in Ghana (2017). 

“Of all the great trails in the world, the Jordan Trail is the one about which I am most excited. The culture, the history, the terrain and the scenery all make this epic journey truly unique,” said Pearce-Higgins, noting that he is also having “the added privilege of running the trail alongside one of Jordan’s best athletes.”

When asked about the athletes’ experience over the first day of the run, JTA Director Bashir Dawod said that “the runners achieved a good sense of what is to be expected on the trail,” noting that “they are very happy and excited to keep going, yet aware of the challenges”.

This inaugural run is set to become a regular event organised by JTA as an annual fundraiser to support the development and maintenance of the trail, attracting athletes from all over the world to experience the diverse landscapes and beautiful nature that Jordan has to offer.

The Jordan Trail, managed by the Jordan Trail JTA, spans over Jordan’s diverse terrains and landscapes, beginning in Um Qais in the north and winding past forests, mountains, deserts and canyons to end at the Red Sea in Aqaba.