Cabinet approves establishment of first educational waqf

AMMAN — The Council of Ministers on Monday approved establishing the first educational waqf (endowment), upon a recommendation by ministers of education, awqaf and finance, with the aim of urging the local community to support the educational sector.

The Cabinet approved a draft law for the higher council for vocational education and training and a by-law for an employment fund, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

The regulations are in response to Jordan 2025 Vision, the 2016-2025 National Strategy for Human Resources Development, the 2018-2022 Economic Growth Stimulation Plan, which aim at developing the vocational and technical training and education, and the Kingdom’s labour market.

Also on Monday’s session, the Cabinet agreed to merge the Jordan postal Saving Fund with the Jordan Post Company, which are currently two independent institutions.

The Cabinet also decided to “continue treating Arab tourists as their Jordanian counterparts until December 31” when it comes to entry fees for museums and archaeological sites, in a move that aims at supporting the sector and attracting more Arab tourists, especially from the Gulf.

Meanwhile, the government approved financing the Bus Rapid Transit project connecting Amman with Zarqa through a financial lease agreement between the Finance Ministry and the Social Security Investment Fund, where the fund’s financial leasing company has to provide JD140 million to cover building and supervision costs. 

The Cabinet approved an agreement on aviation services intended to be signed between Jordan and Turkmenistan.

Ministers also agreed on the mandating reasons for draft laws between Jordan and Kazakhstan on the accreditation of an agreement of mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, an agreement on extradition.

The Council of Ministers approved the mandating reasons for amendments to the social security by-law of the General Intelligence Department (GID) personnel, housing fund by-law of GID officers, and a housing fund by-law of the Public Security Department officers.

The Cabinet approved the mandating reasons for the 2018 draft by-law for the Rangers, following a previous decision to form a national committee entrusted with formulating a by-law for the Rangers.

The Council of Ministers also approved a 2016 regional cooperation protocol for administrating maritime life in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, under which the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority will be responsible for implementing the protocol from the Jordanian side.

The ministers agreed on a 2018-2020 national plan on energy efficiency, which came to help realise the energy sector’s strategic goals of lowering consumption and improving the energy efficiency by 20 per cent until 2020.

The Cabinet also approved an amendment to the by-law of the Justice Ministry’s administrational structure, which aims at enabling the ministry to carry out its tasks according to relevant laws and by-laws.