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AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday discussed with Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Paolo Gentiloni bilateral ties and the latest regional developments.

He also met a leading German lawmaker with talks focusing on cooperation and regional issues.

During the meeting with the Italian top diplomat, the King voiced Jordan's keenness on enhancing its relations with Italy in all fields as part of the Kingdom’s advanced status with the EU, according to a Royal Court statement.

The Monarch also reviewed with the visiting minister Jordan's support for regional and international efforts exerted to deal with the various challenges facing the Middle East, especially the stalled peace process and terrorism, stressing the important role of Italy and the EU in efforts aimed at addressing these challenges, the statement said.

The two sides also discussed the Syrian crisis and the situation in Libya and Yemen.

For his part, Gentiloni commended the high level of Amman-Rome ties and Jordan's efforts to achieve regional and international peace. 

The meeting was attended by Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Judeh, King’s Office Director Jaafar Hassan, Italian Ambassador in Amman Patrizio Fondi and the delegates accompanying the visiting minister. 

Also on Wednesday, Judeh held talks separately with Gentiloni that focused on bilateral relations and latest regional developments, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury also met with Gentiloni.

The two sides agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding on a development and technical cooperation programme for the next three years. 

Discussions focused on strengthening economic relations and development cooperation between the two countries, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

During His Majesty’s meeting with Volker Kauder, the parliamentary group leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union in Bavaria in the German Bundestag, the King stressed Jordan’s keenness to further enhance cooperation in various fields.

The King urged further coordination among influential players to achieve world peace and enhance regional security and stability, according to the Royal Court. 

In this regard, His Majesty highlighted the importance of supporting efforts exerted to deal with present challenges, especially terrorist and extremist groups that threaten world peace and security, and urged peoples and followers of different faiths to find common grounds.

King Abdullah renewed a call for serious efforts to achieve Middle East peace and establish the Palestinian state, and to work out peaceful solutions to the situations in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. 

Kauder and the accompanying delegates praised Jordan’s contributions to regional stability, which, they said, have earned the Kingdom a special status in the international arena as a peacemaker and a model of moderation and coexistence. 

Judeh also met with Kauder over bilateral ties and regional challenges. 

Judeh briefed the delegates on the latest developments in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, reiterating the importance of cooperation and coordination with Germany and other concerned parties to achieve regional peace and stability. 

AMMAN – Jordan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.1 per cent in 2014, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS).

The economic growth rate is compatible with expectations of the government and the International Monetary Fund.

Last year’s growth rate was higher than 2013, when the economy expanded by 2.8 per cent.

According to a report released on Wednesday by DoS, the Kingdom’s GDP grew by 3.3 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2014. 

DoS also said that most sectors recorded growth during the fourth quarter of last year. 

The extractive industries sector registered the highest growth rate amounting to 71.1 per cent, followed by the agricultural sector, which expanded by 18.8 per cent, the private nonprofit services producers sector, with a growth percentage of 7.8 per cent, the social and personal services sector, with 4 per cent, and the construction sector, with 3.9 per cent.   

AMMAN — For many Egyptians, food is an integral part of their culture. Koushari stalls line every corner in Cairo and it is rare to find an Egyptian who will not rave about the superiority of Egyptian food.

However, in Jordan, where over 600,000 Egyptians reside according to official figures, many Egyptians said they find it difficult to name one Egyptian restaurant in Amman. 

“I lived in Jordan for most of my youth and never did I go to an Egyptian restaurant,” Walaa Abdel Hady, a former University of Jordan student said. “Living here, I’ve never even had koushari, which is as popular in Egypt as mansaf is in Jordan.”

One of Egypt’s most popular traditional dishes, koushari consists of rice, macaroni and lentils, topped with tomato sauce.

Abdullah Fazi Al Mageed moved to Amman a year ago to save up money before moving back to Egypt, and unlike Abdel Hady, he said he misses Egyptian food dearly.

The problem for Mageed is that the taste of Egyptian cuisine in Amman does not compare to the food in Cairo. 

“Egyptian food, like koushari, is difficult to make,” Mageed said. “Coming from Egypt, I don’t trust just anyone to make koushari for me; it’s never the same as when it’s made at home.” 

Owner of Koushari Al Omdah in Amman Hatem Mohammad Abdel Haq agreed with Mageed, adding that the problem comes from the fact that Egyptians do not have the means to open restaurants in Jordan and Jordanians do not know how to make Egyptian food.

“I am the owner of the restaurant and I am Jordanian,” he said. “My head chef is Egyptian, and I’ve learned how to make koushari and other Egyptian food from him, but most people who know how to make this food in Amman cannot open restaurants.” 

While they may be scarce, there are some in Amman who are known for their Egyptian cooking. 

Mohammed Mutwally, head chef at Mr Koushari in Amman, moved to Jordan to work as a chef specialising in Egyptian food. 

Mutwally still loves Egyptian food after making it at the restaurant every day for over 10 years. 

“I love cooking; it’s what I trained in,” he said. “And I would pick Egyptian food over Jordanian any day.”

Still, Mutwally said many of his costumers are not Egyptian. 

“We see a lot of Jordanians coming in here in addition to visitors from the Gulf, but not a lot of Egyptians,” he said. 

Mutwally believes the reason for this is the cost difference between Egyptian food back home and Egyptian food sold in Amman. 

“The cost of Egyptian food here is so much more expensive than in Cairo because it is so much harder to find,” he said. “It makes it more convenient for Egyptians in Jordan to make their own food at home rather than pay more at a restaurant.” 

However, Abdel Hady, who has recently moved back to Egypt, said even cooking at home was a rare occurrence for her family when they lived in Amman. 

“Sometimes we would cook Egyptian food at home,” she said. “But honestly, we didn’t do it all that much. I have come to love Jordanian food more than Egyptian [cuisine], and now that I am back in Egypt I find myself looking for Jordanian restaurants.” 

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) said on Wednesday that its agents arrested a suspect in the northern region for allegedly hiding 37,000 Captagon pills inside olives that he intended to smuggle to a neighbouring country.

“The suspect reportedly pulled out the seeds of thousands of olives and replaced them with Captagon pills wrapped in small plastic bags,” a senior AND official said.

The suspect placed the illegal stash in two containers weighing each 25 kilos and took it to a shipment office to be sent to a neighbouring country, the source told The Jordan Times.

The source said that AND received a tip about the operation and “we were ready when the two containers arrived at the border point.”

AND agents traced the address of the person who was intending to send the shipment and arrested him at his home in the north area without any major incidents, according to a statement by the Public Security Department.

 “This is a new method of smuggling these pills. We thwarted an attempt in the past to smuggle pills in artificial olives…but this is a new method,” the AND official said.

The official added that investigations are ongoing in this case, adding that “more people could be arrested.”

Officials have previously said that Jordan is still considered a transit country when it comes to Captagon smuggling.

These pills are usually manufactured and transported from neighbouring countries in the north via Jordan to rich countries on the southern borders, because one Captagon pill is worth at least JD7 in these states, while its market value in Jordan does not exceed JD1 per pill.

Captagon (fenethylline) is a synthetic stimulant similar to amphetamine.

Although banned in most countries in the 1980s, illegally produced and smuggled Captagon — sometimes containing amphetamine instead of fenethylline — is a common drug abused in the Middle East, according to web sources.

AMMAN — A total of 32 women were taken to hospital on Wednesday for food poisoning in Madaba after eating shawerma, according to the governor.

The women, who work at a clothes factory in Madaba’s Mleih District some 30km southwest of Amman, were sent to Al Nadim Hospital at around 3pm, Madaba Governor Saad Shihab said.

“Thirty of the women who were confirmed in good condition were discharged from hospital one hour later. The Madaba health director issued directives that the remaining two stay under observation since they are pregnant,” Shihab told The Jordan Times while visiting the patients.

He also said the health directorate and Civil Defence Department each placed an ambulance near the factory just in case new poisoning cases emerge among other workers to ensure the fast transport of new patients to hospital.

Shihab added that Health Minister Ali Hiasat visited the patients and was briefed on their condition.

“The governorate’s health director closed the restaurant that provided the food as a precautionary procedure, and health personnel took food samples for lab examination,” the governor said, adding that test results will be announced in 48 to 72 hours.

If the food proves contaminated, the restaurant owner will be referred to the prosecutor general for investigation and then to the governor’s office to proceed with administrative procedures depending on the court’s decision, Shihab said.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday authorised Finance Minister Umayya Toukan to forge ahead with negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable Jordan to benefit from the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility.

During a Cabinet meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat, the Council of Ministers also entrusted Toukan with working to reach an agreement with the US Treasury, National Security Council and State Department on the issuance of $1.5 billion in Eurobonds. 

The ministers were briefed on the findings of the European Neighbourhood Policy Report on Jordan for 2014, which highlighted several positive observations on the Kingdom’s role at the local, regional and global levels. 

The report highlighted that Jordan maintained its stability at the political, economic and social levels despite surrounding threats. 

The Cabinet also approved a recommendation by the Economic Development Committee to assess the condition of underground water in the Kingdom’s northern region. 

It also approved a recommendation by the Services, Infrastructure and Social Affairs Committee to re-examine the bases for dealing with medical treatment requests submitted to the Royal Court. 

A committee tasked with this review was requested to submit its recommendations within three months. 

AMMAN — The strategic stockpile of wheat is enough to cover the Kingdom’s needs for 11 months, while Jordan has enough barley for eight months and seven days, Trade Ministry Spokesperson Yanal Barmawi said Wednesday.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Barmawi as saying that the strategic stockpile of wheat stood at 897,000 tonnes and the stockpile of barley reached 612,000 tonnes.

He said the ministry makes sure there are adequate amounts of these two strategic items to meet public needs at suitable prices.

Wheat production is expected to double this year compared to the crop’s yield in 2014 due to abundant rain in winter, Agriculture Ministry Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin said in recent remarks to The Jordan Times.

Production of wheat is expected to range from 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes this year, he added.

“The country’s wheat imports used to be around 900,000 tonnes annually, but the figure has increased to 1 million tonnes due to population growth in light of the refugee influx,” Haddadin said.

Jordan imports its needs of wheat from several countries including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia, Romania and the United States.

Jordan consumes 80,000 tonnes of wheat and 70,000 tonnes of barley per month, according to Petra.

AMMAN — The Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to lobbying for women’s rights in cooperation with civil society.

“I truly believe that we should always unite our efforts and consult with each other to come up with unified and strong positions when it comes to the women’s movement’s demands in Jordan,” JNCW Secretary General Salma Nims said.

Nims was speaking during a meeting at the JNCW with media and civil society organisations to reveal the outcome of Jordan’s participation in the UN 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

“Our participation was successful and we acknowledged that we still have many challenges ahead that we are not addressing properly, especially on the government and Parliament side,” she said.

One of the main challenges, according to Nims, was the estimated influx of 1.4 million Syrians into Jordan, which has pushed the government to shift its priorities from women’s issues to dealing with the increased burdens and maintain the quality of services provided to refugees.

“We also addressed religious dialogue, including Sharia [Islamic law] and the fact that religion should be used to liberate women not pressure them,” the activist said.

Highlighting some of the statistics included in the Kingdom’s position paper that was presented at the meeting, Nims said women’s participation increased to 12 per cent in the Lower House and 35.9 per cent in local councils in 2013.

She added that Jordanian women hold approximately 18 per cent of ministerial positions and constitute 18.4 per cent of representatives in the diplomatic corps.

Female enrolment rates in university education reached 51.7 per cent in 2013, and the percentage of women holding a university degree has more than tripled in the recent years, according to Nims.

Jordan has also witnessed a major leap in the provision of healthcare and has managed to close the gender gap in the area of health and life expectancy; female life expectancy stood at 76.7 years in 2013, while male life expectancy is 72.7 years, she added.

The perceived threats of economic instability and invisible societal barriers, she added, fuels the need to “rely on negative coping mechanisms such as early marriages, which were 13.2 per cent of all registered marriages in 2013”.

Gaps in the variety and quality of education and health services — including reproductive health — represent an additional challenge for women and girls, especially for those living with disabilities, Nims added.

She said social stereotypes and negative cultural attitudes related to the expected role that women and girls should play in society continue to slow down women’s empowerment and gender equality.

The perception that women and girls are in need of guardianship and protection is too frequently translated into restrictions in terms of movement, social engagement and civic participation, the activist asserted.

“Media professionals as well as the education system need to be empowered to portray a more equal and non-biased representation of women and girls in society, avoiding the promotion of stereotypes in media programming and school curricula,” Nims stressed.

AMMAN — The Lower House Energy Committee on Wednesday defended a government decision to increase the prices of gasoline. 

Committee Chairman Jamal Gammoh said the government increased prices of one litre of unleaded 90-octane gasoline in April to JD0.61, up from JD0.585 last month, while one litre of 95-octane now costs JD0.775 compared with JD0.74 in March.

“The government increased prices of gasoline by 4 per cent while globally gas prices rose by about 7 per cent,” Gammoh said over the phone.

“Last month, demand on gasoline rose sharply globally which led to this increase. Our increase was lower than the global average,” the MP said. 

Gammoh added that the price of diesel and kerosene globally dropped by less than 1 per cent, which made it more convenient to maintain their prices unchanged. 

One litre of diesel or kerosene costs JD0.455.

Gammoh made the remarks after the Gas Station Owners Association called on the government to rescind the decision to increase gas prices.

The government lifted oil subsidies in November 2012.

A government pricing committee now meets monthly to adjust prices in a manner that corresponds to changes on the international market.

The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of energy and finance, and the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company. 

It updates prices based on average international oil prices during the preceding 30 days, and other costs such as freight and handling.

AMMAN — A weak depression that affected the Kingdom on Wednesday brought rainfall to several areas, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said. 

The head of JMD’s forecast department, Raed Rafed, said Ajloun, 70km northwest of Amman, received the largest amount of rainfall.

The meteorologist told The Jordan Times that the depression came to an end Wednesday night and temperatures are forecast to increase in the coming days. 

Temperatures in the capital will range between a high of 19°C and a low of 10°C on Thursday, he noted.

Rafed said temperatures in the capital are forecast to increase further on Friday, ranging between a high of 20°C and a low of 10°C.

He noted that several spells of unstable weather and khamsini depressions, which bring rain, are expected to this spring. 

The name is derived from khamsin — meaning 50 in Arabic — because it usually occurs during a 50-day time frame, from March 21 through May 10. 

Khamsini weather conditions affect the eastern part of the Mediterranean an average of once a week during this period, according to JMD.

The hot, sand-laden winds, originating from the Atlas Mountains in north Africa, annually move east of the Mediterranean Sea around this time of year and are usually preceded by unseasonably high temperatures, and dry and dusty conditions.

Health experts advise the public to take precautionary measures during this period, as allergy cases and respiratory system infections increase, particularly due to pollen grains and dust.

Rafed stressed that Wednesday’s depression was not part of khamsini weather conditions.