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Jordan celebrates King’s 16th coronation anniversary

By JT - Jun 08,2015 - Last updated at Jun 08,2015

AMMAN — Jordan celebrates the 16th anniversary of His Majesty King Abdullah’s coronation on Tuesday.

On the occasion, the King and HRH Crown Prince Hussein received cables from several heads of Arab states, and senior officials and officers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The King and Crown Prince also received messages from senior officers and officials marking Army Day and the anniversary of the Great Arab Revolt, when the emir of Mecca and the King’s great-great-grandfather, Sharif Hussein Bin Ali, led an uprising against Ottoman rule in the region.

Since his coronation on June 9, 1999, the King has embarked on comprehensive democratic reform in the Kingdom, giving special attention to internal and external national issues.

In particular, he has focused on improving Jordan’s capabilities as a modern country, emphasising investment in the Kingdom’s human resources and innovation as a means to combat the nationwide shortage of natural resources.

In addition to these priorities, His Majesty has been always committed to advocating the Palestinian people's right to have an independent state and safeguarding Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

Under the King's leadership, Jordan is working towards a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East and is part of an international coalition to fight terrorism.

Throughout the past 16 years, the King has carried the banner of tolerance and coexistence, launching the “Amman Message”, to portray the true essence of Islam, which is based on moderation and rejection of extremism.

In addition, the UN General Assembly adopted the King’s initiative “World Interfaith Harmony Week” in October 2010.

He also sees economic reform as a major concern, and consequently, directed Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour’s government in March to prepare a 10-year economic blueprint to ensure consistency, increased competitiveness, productivity and self-reliance.

In implementation of these directives, the government in May launched the “Jordan 2025” document, which sets a general framework for social and economic policies, with three executive development programmes covering the period 2016-2025.

At the World Economic Forum meeting, held in Jordan for the ninth time in May, the King made it a point to attend the session titled “Jordan Relaunched”, which was within the context of a campaign to rejuvenate the country’s economy and attract new investments by highlighting major economic deals, sealed by Jordan and promising opportunities for investors in various vital sectors.

The Kingdom, under His Majesty’s rule, took the initiative to implement much needed political reforms, with four parliamentary elections taking place over the past 16 years.

The September 2011 constitutional amendments necessitated the enactment or amendment of several laws, including those that mandated the establishment of the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) and the Constitutional Court.

Currently, the government — under Royal directives — is working with Parliament to improve local governance in a way that increases citizens’ participation in the decision-making process based on a roadmap that aims to develop decentralisation and laws governing political reform, including municipal and parliamentary elections.

In its current extraordinary session, Parliament is scheduled to discuss the 2015 decentralisation and municipalities bills, a new political parties law, and the 2014 and 2015 amendments to the IEC Law.

 

The government is also drafting a new elections law, with plans to refer it to Parliament later this summer, taking into consideration His Majesty’s directives to ensure wider participation in decision making and usher in a more mature partisan life that brings about parliamentary governments based on well-defined political platforms. 

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