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AMMAN — Gulf citizens entering Jordan are no longer allowed to bring in their falcons under a decision which seeks to protect the Kingdom’s wildlife, according to officials and a conservation group.

Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) Chairman Khaled Irani said on Wednesday that falcons are not allowed to enter the country in order to prevent hunting of endangered species.

The decision also comes in enforcement of laws and regulations which prohibit hunting with falcons, and the possession, display or sale of falcons in the Kingdom, Irani said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

The RSCN, Jordan’s wildlife conservation and nature protection NGO, said that the decision was taken in agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and has been circulated by the Ministry of Interior to local agencies and embassies of Gulf states in the country to inform their citizens about the decision.

Munther Rifai, Ministry of Agriculture Assistant secretary general for animal affairs, said the decision to ban the entry of falcons into the country was taken last year but went into effect starting this year.

Rifai highlighted that the ministry has always requested owners of falcons wishing to enter the country to submit certificates that proved their birds were free from diseases, particularly bird flu.

But when owners of falcons started hunting endangered species such as houbara bustard and goldfinch, the RSCN requested that falcons be banned from entering the country to protect its wildlife.

“Now, Gulf citizens who bring falcons to the country will be denied entry,” Rifai told The Jordan Times.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Nimer Haddadin, confirmed that the ban is aimed at protecting endangered species from extinction.

“The decision will protect our nature and wildlife,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times.

In May last year, the foreign ministry of the United Arab Emirates called on its nationals not to hunt falcons while visiting Jordan. It also warned them against smuggling falcons into the Kingdom. The ministry said these actions were against Jordan’s laws.

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s olive oil production increased by 20 per cent in 2014, according to official figures released on Wednesday, which indicated that the northern Governorate of Irbid accounted for nearly one-third of total production. 

The Department of Statistics (DoS) report said olive groves across the Kingdom produced 22,835 tonnes of olive oil during the 2014 harvest season between October 15 and January 23, compared to 19,078 tonnes in 2013.

The harvest of olive fruits also saw a 20 per cent rise in 2014 when compared with the year before as DoS estimated the volume of olives at 116,969 tonnes, while in 2013 it stood at 97,825 tonnes.

According to official data, Irbid was the highest olive oil producer in the Kingdom with 7,515 tonnes, followed by Ajloun with 3,247 tonnes, Amman (2,488 tonnes), Balqa (2,022 tonnes) and Jerash (1,996 tonnes).

Production in Irbid, 80km north of Amman, went up by 44 per cent in 2014, while in Ajloun, 70km northwest of the capital, it saw a decrease of 15 per cent. 

The governorate with the lowest volume of olive oil production was Aqaba (113 tonnes), with production in the southern governorate dropping by 16 per cent, followed by Tafileh with 140 tonnes.

The DoS report said there are 134 olive presses in the Kingdom, the majority of which use advanced technologies.

According to the National Centre for Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE), there are over 17 million olive trees in the Kingdom, nearly half of them in the northern region.

NCARE figures show that the olive oil industry represents an important source of income for around 80,000 Jordanian families.

The olive sector’s annual contribution to the economy is estimated at JD100 million, with average exports of over JD20 million, according to official data.

Olive groves represent 72 per cent of overall areas planted with fruit trees, while there are around 47 types of olive trees in Jordan.

Around 83 per cent of olive production is turned into oil, while the rest is pickled.

AMMAN — Jordan on Wednesday closed its border with Syria for security reasons, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The agency quoted Interior Minister Hussein Majali as saying that passenger and cargo traffic across the border was halted as a result of escalating violence in the Syrian town of Nasib, near the border crossing.

The decision to close the Jaber border station was primarily taken with the aim of saving the lives of passengers, Majali told Petra.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Nasib town has been witnessing “fierce” confrontations between forces loyal to the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and Islamist opposition groups.

The observatory also reported that the Syrian regime’s warplanes have been launching “intensified” air strikes against the Islamist opposition’s posts in Nasib and other towns on the southern border with Jordan. 

Jordan’s other border crossing with Syria, Ramtha, has been closed for nearly four years except for humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country in compliance with a UN decision taken last year.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday met separately with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and his Prime Minister Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah.

The meetings came on the sidelines of a Syrian refugee donor conference hosted for the third time by Kuwait, where Jordan appealed for assistance to maintain its services to Syrian refugees and host communities.

At the meeting with Sheikh Sabah, the premier thanked Kuwait for hosting the conference and providing other forms of support for Jordan, noting that the Gulf emirate has fulfilled its commitment to Jordan by paying in full its share of a $5 billion Gulf fund allocated for Jordan.

The emir said that he hoped the outcomes of the conference would be better than those of the two previous meetings, stressing that fund management is key in achieving the goals of the conference. 

He said the humanitarian assistance should not go as UN “operational expenses” such as salaries, studies and other expenditures.

The emir asked Ensour to convey his greetings to His Majesty King Abdullah and a message of support for the Kingdom, saying that Kuwait is keen on enhancing bilateral ties to serve the interests of both countries. 

For his part, Sheikh Jaber told Ensour that his government had received direct instructions from the emir “not to hesitate in funding Jordanian projects agreed on” between the two sides and in granting humanitarian assistance and fighting terrorism.  

Ensour also met separately with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and United Nations Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark, and stressed the importance for the international community to support the Kingdom and finance the 2015 Jordan Response Plan for the Syrian crisis.

Sima Bahous, assistant administrator and director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States, said that the programme is scheduled to open a regional centre in Amman in May to coordinate efforts for providing developmental and urgent assistance to Syrian refugees. 

Also on the sidelines of the conference, Ensour met with Iraqi Vice President Iyad Allawi, Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yasuhide Nakayama and US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, and discussed bilateral relations and efforts to fight extremism.

The premier stressed that Jordan is trying to keep its borders open with Syria, and maintain its security and stability, noting that hosting refugees could affect the reform process due to the huge amounts of money spent on basic needs of refugees.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury met with UK, EU, Norwegian and German officials and praised their support for Jordan amidst the Syrian refugee crisis.

He also reiterated that there is an urgent need to increase the assistance and meet the requirement of the Jordan Response Plan (JRP).

For their part, the European officials stressed their countries’ commitment to supporting the Kingdom, commending its humanitarian role in the region.

They praised the method used to prepare the JRP and said they agree with Jordan’s request for creating mechanisms to support crisis-hit countries.

AMMAN — Jordan has appealed to the world community for support in funding the Jordan Response Plan for 2015 during the Kuwait III donor conference on Tuesday, highlighting that JRP financing needs amount to $3 billion, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, who headed the delegation that took part in the meeting, said in his remarks at the conference that JRP funding estimates cover the needs for both refugees and hosting communities, pointing out Jordan carries a "huge" burden after becoming the world’s third largest refugee hosting country.

Ensour said ‘there seems to be no near solution to the Syrian crisis,’ adding that even if a solution is reached, rebuilding Syria and the return of the refugees will take too long, highlighting Jordan hosts around 1.4 Syrians whose names, numbers and date of entry to the Kingdom have been recorded. They constitute 20 per cent of the Kingdom's population, he noted.

The premier said Jordan has exhausted its resources completely, even its infrastructure and services, which has negatively affected its achievements, making the Kingdom unable to offer its citizens what it used to offer in services.

During 2014, Jordan received foreign support to help it handle the refugee crisis which stood at around $854 million, or 38 per cent of the total financial demands estimated at $2.28 billion by UN organisations and the government.

Ensour said the financial gap to fund the JRP for 2015 reached up to 94.9 per cent out of the needed total of $2.99 billion. 

Last week, the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry and the UN signed a launching agreement of the Jordan Resilience Fund as a unified channel for donor contributions against the impact of the Syrian crisis on Jordan. 

The fund, which is jointly managed by the government, the UN and donors, seeks to coordinate donations addressing the needs of Syrian refugees in Jordan as well as host communities. 

AMMAN — The US is working with Jordan to prioritise the Kingdom’s request for military equipment to ensure that it will not run short in the war against terrorism, Alice G. Wells, the US ambassador in Amman said on Tuesday.

“When it comes to military cooperation between the US and Jordan, our military cooperation has never been closer… we are working together intensively to ensure that Jordan’s leadership of this Arab coalition is not impeded by a shortage or lack of supplies,” Wells said at a press meeting.

Responding to questions about military cooperation between the two countries as Jordan is currently a member of the international coalition that is fighting Daesh and of the Arab coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen, the US envoy noted that her country works with Jordan in order to prioritise its request for equipment, as Jordan has dropped six times as much ordnance in this war as the next Arab coalition partner. 

“It’s been a very active partner, and certainly it is an ongoing contribution to the coalition. This participation requires that it [Jordan] has enough supplies,” the diplomat said, adding that for this purpose, top US officials came from Washington to meet with Jordanian counterparts to go through and determine priorities and identify funding resources to move forward. 

She explained that the US updates the Jordanian government on a weekly basis on the status of weapon deliveries and “yesterday [Monday] we had the opening of the joint military commission”, the annual gathering where officials from both sides look for five-year strategic forecast and deal with very specific issues of military support.

“The bottom line when it comes to military cooperation between the US and Jordan, our military cooperation has never been closer.”

Currently, America is providing Jordan with $300 million a year in military assistance and “we expect this to grow in next year’s budget but the final allocations have not been determined yet”.

Elaborating further on bilateral ties, the envoy said: “Jordan is at the intersection of all of our efforts… the peace process, Syria, Iraq, counter-terrorism and most recently in Yemen.”

According to Wells, consultations between US leaders and His Majesty King Abdullah are crucial to US policy and “our understanding how best we can move forward in the region”.

The ambassador said that $3 billion worth of assistance has been stipulated in a three-year memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries. In addition, there is a third loan guarantee for Jordan with the final details being worked out and with expectations that this loan guarantee would be issued in June.

The US is also taking another step in the Kuwait conference to reinforce its commitment to standing by Jordan as it faces the repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis, according to Wells, who added that in the Kuwait conference, America is pledging $507 million in assistance, bringing “our total contribution to the refugee crisis to $3.7 billion”. Of that, $556 million, separate from the bilateral assistance programme, has been spent inside Jordan for Syrians. 

“The message I heard when I was doing my consultations in Washington was that we are standing by Jordan and we are mutually committed, and have mutual strategic interest in defeating Daesh and that Jordan is the Arab leader that is driving this coalition and providing the essential ideological alternative to the destructive forces of Daesh,” the envoy said.

“So we are committed to Jordan’s success and we are committed to helping Jordan find the space in the resources necessary to continue its process of modernisation…”

Regional issues

As for the war against Houthis in Yemen, the US announced it will provide logistics and intelligence support for the operation in addition to technical support.

Regarding the Mideast peace process, the ambassador said the US administration was deeply concerned by the statements that emerged during the Israeli election campaign and the walking back of a commitment to the two-state solution.

However, she noted Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks (that there would be no Palestinian state) were taken out of context and that he still supports the two-state solution. “Let us look at the actions,” she said. 

AMMAN — A 22-year-old man died in a fire that erupted in his house in Anjara in Ajloun Governorate on Tuesday, according to Ajloun Civil Defence Department Director Col. Hani Smadi.

 CDD firefighters managed to put out the blaze, in which the man’s father sustained mild burns.

Smadi said the fire was the result of an electrical short circuit.

AMMAN — Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji met with a delegation from Sofia on Tuesday and discussed possibilities to hold joint cultural, musical and artistic festivities to promote tourism.

Biltaji said Amman’s history is full of cultural heritage, dating back 12,000 years.

He also highlighted the city’s religious and cultural diversity.

Biltaji said Amman was the first city in the Middle East to be nominated to join the Charter for Compassion since it has harmony and tolerance among the public in spite of their different origins.

He said the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) does its best to make the capital a tourist and investor attraction.

The delegates voiced readiness to cooperate with GAM.

Amman and the Bulgarian capital have been cooperating since the year 2000 through a friendship agreement.

PETRA — India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and an accompanying delegation on Tuesday visited the ancient city of Petra and toured its archaeological and historical sites.

Sitharaman toured the Siq, the treasury, the Nabataean amphitheatre, the court and the Byzantine church.

Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) Assistant Chief Commissioner Imad Hijazeen acquainted the delegates with PDTRA’s future plans to develop tourist services in the city, and discussed ways to promote Petra in India.

The delegates expressed their admiration of Petra and its unique archaeological sites.

AMMAN — The Lower House Tourism Committee on Tuesday called on Russia, the US, China, Germany and France to promote the tourism sector in the Kingdom for its security, stability and investor-friendly climate.

During a meeting with these countries’ ambassadors, head of the committee, Deputy Munir Zawaydeh, briefed the envoys on the sector and the challenges it faces, calling on the diplomats to convey the true image of Jordan as a stable country.

Also at the meeting, Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez highlighted the importance of the sector due to its contribution to the national economy.

The ambassadors stressed their compatriots’ interest in visiting the Kingdom’s archaeological and tourist sites.