PM vows relentless work to facilitate elections, address challenges

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki has vowed that his government would work to facilitate the upcoming parliamentary elections, address economic woes and others facing stumbling sectors, overhaul government performance and maintain Jordan’s role in regional and international arena. 

In his reply to the Royal Letter of Designation, published on Wednesday, Mulki said that his government, which took oath before His Majesty King Abdullah on the same day, that his team will work relentlessly with “no hesitation, no excuses [to delay work]”.

Responding to guidelines in the Designation Letter, Mulki said the government “will provide all facilitations and support to the Independent Elections Commission to ensure that all stages of the parliamentary elections are administered with the highest degrees of integrity, transparency and neutrality”.

He stressed that the government will work to issue all the by-laws and instructions required to implement the Decentralisation Law, under which the elections for governorates’ council will take place next year.

Building on what pervious governments achieved, Mulki said that his team will work on completing mega projects in vital sectors on the drawing board, and will accelerate preparations for the meeting of the Saudi-Jordanian Coordination Council.

Following is the official translation of the reply:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful,

Your Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, 

Peace, God’s mercy and blessings be upon you,

I am honoured to convey to Your Majesty my sincerest expression of loyalty and faithfulness as our country celebrates national occasions that are dear to all faithful Jordanian men and women, embodied in the 70th Independence Day, the Great Arab Revolt centennial and the Arab Army Day. 

You have honoured me, Your Majesty, by entrusting me to form a government and vesting in me the responsibility of serving our dear country and proud people. The Royal Letter of Designation is a beacon that leads the government’s way and a roadmap that steers its efforts to perform the tasks and national duties assigned to it at this critical stage the region is undergoing. The Letter of Designation carries the clear vision and firm principles that guide us to continue the process of reform and modernisation. The government, therefore, will follow this path, building on its achievements and shouldering its responsibilities, with determination and dedication.

Your Majesty, 

Since parliamentary elections are to be conducted within four months after the Royal Decree is issued to dissolve the Lower House, the government will provide all facilitations and support to the Independent Elections Commission to ensure that all stages of the parliamentary elections are administered with the highest degrees of integrity, transparency and neutrality.

In accordance with Your Majesty’s directives, the government will work to issue all the by-laws and instructions required to implement the Decentralisation Law and take the necessary measures to enable the Independent Elections Commission to plan and prepare for holding the elections of the governorates’ councils next year. This law has been enacted in response to your wise Royal vision to enhance people’s participation in the process of development-related planning and prioritisation of governorates. This will be done in a way that translates Your Majesty’s directives into concrete practices in order to establish a developmental role for governorates’ councils and affiliated agencies and ensure a fairer distribution of development gains.

Towards the implementation of Your Majesty’s vision of comprehensive reform, the government will commit itself to immediately carrying out a series of administrative measures and reforms aimed at entrenching the principle of the rule of law, developing administration and enabling government leaders to realise the envisioned change. The values of justice, equality and equal opportunity Your Majesty has underlined, on more than one occasion, will be our main target and we will work towards translating them into concrete practices, resulting in tangible outcomes for citizens.

Your Majesty,

We will also develop the performance of the government apparatus through measures designed to improve work and realise achievements through setting standards and benchmarks to track performance as a way of evaluating the achievement and performance of officials. The government will streamline administrative procedures in ministries and government agencies in parallel with the government’s programme to computerise work flows through the e-government project, which we will complete speedily and professionally to serve citizens, ensuring the highest levels of transparency and integrity.

The government realises that the Letter of Designation was clear in stating that the main criterion to evaluate the performance of the ministerial team is the achievements it makes and the services it offers to citizens. In this context, we assure Your Majesty that the government will work with perseverance and genuine will, without hesitation or excuses, and with determination and courage to provide services of the quality our dear citizens are worthy of.

Your Majesty,

The government fully realises the repercussions of the regional circumstances and their impact on the country’s economic situation. Pushing up growth rates, enhancing the national economy’s competitiveness and generating jobs are top priorities that necessitate an integrated package of measures reflecting the “Jordan 2025” vision. The preparation of these measures will begin in the coming few weeks, as the government is fully aware of what the Letter of Designation stated in this regard. 

The government will also carry on with economic reforms and the execution of related strategies, including the Employment Strategy, and revisit legislation to stimulate growth, improve business and investment environments and maintain fiscal and monetary stability of the state.

The government will seek to tackle the high debt-to-GDP ratio by taking a series of reform measures that will increase economic growth, stimulate the private sector to invest in developmental projects and enhance public spending efficiency, all in a way that reflects positively on future generations. 

The government will also prepare the developmental and investment projects listed under the Jordan Investment Fund Law, which are expected to help stimulate growth and create jobs for Jordanians. In this context, the government pledges to expedite preparations to hold Saudi-Jordanian Coordination Council meetings so as to enhance the solid and deeply-rooted economic ties between our two brotherly countries.

Your Majesty,

The influx of Syrian refugees to Jordan has had tremendous repercussions that have amplified the challenges and continue to add to the burdens on our economy. The government is committed to working closely with the international community to secure Jordan with the support it deserves due to the humanitarian role it is playing. Accordingly, it will follow up on the implementation of the London donor conference’s outcomes to ensure that Jordan receives the required support to continue providing refugees with their basic needs. 

The government is aware that poverty and unemployment pose the major challenge facing our country. Such a challenge necessitates that the government draws up and executes developmental programmes for all governorates in a way that enhances the productive aspects of these programmes and contributes to creating jobs and alleviating the economic hardships that citizens are suffering from. 

Regarding education policies, the government will work closely with the Royal Commission for Human Resources Development to implement agreed upon recommendations, with the aim of tuning the outcomes of education, particularly vocational training to labour market demands. 

As for the health sector, the government will work on the improvement of the healthcare system as well as the electronic connectivity and computerisation of the sector. We will support the role of the Healthcare Accreditation Council to enable it to carry out its significant task of raising the performance of medical institutions. The government will also work to improve health services offered to citizens and foster medical tourism, which represents an added value to the national economy.

With regards to the energy sector, which is vital in building the Jordanian economy, the government will continue to execute the Energy Strategy and diversify sources of energy, especially alternative and renewable energy, liberalise the oil derivatives market in a way that guarantees competitiveness in favour of citizens and complete mega projects in the sector.

Regarding the water sector, the government will work to conserve our water resources and find new sources through a package of strategic projects, including the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance project and desalination and treatment projects, in addition to others aimed at improving the effectiveness of the sector so that it will be able to provide citizens and all economic sectors with their needs.

In the transportation field, the government will accelerate the implementation of the projects with economic and developmental potential, which have already undergone feasibility studies, especially those related to the railway plan and public transportation, with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the various export and productive sectors and ensuring proper services for citizens.  

The government also realises the immense challenge facing the tourism sector, which is a major employer in our country, and the need to work out effective solutions to support this vital industry so that it can overcome the obstacles it is currently facing and develop it to become a key source of income for our national economy.

We also assure Your Majesty that supporting youth will be at the core of this government’s actions and policies through a ministry for youth that communicates with youth, immunes them intellectually and economically against extremism, bigotry and exclusion and paves the way for them to play their role in building the Jordan of tomorrow. 

Youth are the means and the end of change and they must be equipped with knowledge, skills and the intellectual foundations that reject extremism. We will work to instil in them noble religious and social values derived from our religion and culture to be the reference steering their behaviour.

As part of its social policies, the government will be keen on raising the rate of women’s participation in all sectors, applying the principles of justice and equal opportunity and tapping the potential of half the population, bearing in mind that this would boost our economy and advance our dear country.

Out of its commitment to implementing Your Majesty’s directives to create a suitable and conducive environment for the judicial branch to perform its duties and ensure justice and equality, the government will constantly cooperate and coordinate with the Judiciary to provide it with all it needs to develop and modernise the judicial apparatus so it can carry out its noble mission.

Your Majesty,

At the foreign policy level, the government is committed to building on Jordan’s stands on various issues, enhancing the well-respected position it has earned amongst countries of the world through its diplomacy and honouring international covenants and treaties. 

This government will continue offering support to our Palestinian brethren in establishing their independent state on their national soil, and employ our distinguished international ties to serve this just cause. We will also give special attention to safeguarding the Holy Sites of Jerusalem, in fulfilling Your Majesty’s religious and historical responsibility and the Hashemite Custodianship of the Holy Sites. 

The government also pledges to continue efforts to combat terrorism and fight the khawarej of this age, defend our religion and its noble values and provide all the support to the defenders of the nation in the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army and security agencies.

As I have the honour to present the names of my ministerial team, seeking Your Majesty’s endorsement, I pledge we will do our utmost to meet expectations as we serve our dear people and work to advance our precious country, asking Almighty God to keep and guide Your Majesty on the right path.

Peace, God’s mercy and blessings be upon you,

Sincerely,

Hani Mulki

Amman on 25 Shaban 1437 H

Corresponding to 1 June 2016 AD.