His Majesty King Abdullah and King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia on Sunday discussed in a telephone call developments in Lebanon. The two leaders stressed the importance of dialogue as the only solution to the current dispute. They also reiterated their support to all efforts directed towards ending this crisis .
His Majesty King Abdullah said on Sunday that improving the situation of the country’s cities and villages is a top priority, emphasising that he would continue tours of villages to ensure they are properly covered by development projects.
At a meeting yesterday with representatives from the northern Koura District, home to some 110,000 residents, King Abdullah said: “I want to see development in every Jordanian village: infrastructure, education and health. We will extend all support possible to realise this goal.”
His Majesty underlined the significance of a comprehensive land use blueprint the government is working on to cover the entire Kingdom.
The Monarch said it is important for the plan to be implemented in partnership with local communities to meet the requirements of growth, development and modernisation, taking into consideration the guidelines set by economic, agricultural and tourism development policies.
His Majesty, who met with Koura community leaders during a tour of the district last week, said he was keen to ensure that residents’ demands and needs are met.
Yesterday’s meeting was a follow up on the Koura visit, where the King said he would be meeting with the area’s representatives in the presence of the government to coordinate plans set for the rural district.
At last week’s meeting, the King ordered a comprehensive plan to address the district’s problems and meet its needs.
The plan entails the allocation of JD4 million to implement several projects in the fields of health, education and services.
Also yesterday, King Abdullah said a comprehensive plan the Ministry of Environment is working on in nearby Ajloun Governorate and the surrounding areas should run in harmony with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs’ land use plans.
He stressed the key role of the young generation in development plans for their areas.
In line with King Abdullah’s vision, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said the government is planning to prepare a comprehensive plan for the Kingdom that entails a set of rules to regulate construction, infrastructure and environment.
The plan will also take into consideration the special features of each area, the premier said.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Shihadeh Abu Hdeib said the comprehensive plan for Koura District will be finalised in four months, noting that an initial analysis of the area’s situation has already been completed.
Her Majesty Queen Rania on Sunday launched the Jordan River Foundation’s (JRF) sustainability report at a meeting attended by board members and supporters.
This makes the foundation the Middle East’s first non-governmental organisation (NGO) to author such a report.
JRF hopes this new way of transparent reporting will attract more partners and donors and help scale up their efforts to improve the quality of life and access to economic opportunities for more Jordanians.
Sustainability reports provide institutions with the means to prove they are being responsible, accountable and transparent. Companies are encouraged to balance profit with environmental protection and equal opportunity.
“I’m proud that Jordan River Foundation is the first NGO to produce such a report,” said the Queen, who chairs the foundation.
“Sustainability has been behind JRF’s goals from the beginning; reporting is increasingly more important for corporations, but also for NGOs because transparency is critical,” she added.
Through the report, JRF is able to quantify its reach and impact. According to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) checked report, since its inception JRF has positively impacted over 360,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries by reaching out to the traditionally disenfranchised members of society and touching their lives, in addition to developing 180 community-based organisations and training eight municipalities in strategic planning and project management.
“This report gives us a scientific way to measure our impact and state it clearly,” the Queen noted.
While highlighting JRF’s positive impact in the country, the report also serves as a guide to show where the foundation can scale up its efforts and improve outreach opportunities.
Meanwhile, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali noted that the report is a great measure from a donor perspective, as it states exactly how and where funding is being spent.
“When things aren’t measured it leaves a lot of room for doubt. When you have things documented, there’s no room for debate,” said the Queen, expressing her hopes for all NGOs in the region to follow in line with JRF’s leadership and produce their own sustainability reports.
The report also outlines JRF’s environmental impact. Minister of the Environment Khaled Irani said he was encouraged to see the positive implications in the report, including JRF’s organic farming which will be expanded in the coming years.
While attending the GRI conference in Amsterdam last week, Queen Rania urged companies to chart progress and outline their goals in a sustainability report for all concerned stakeholders.
She also launched the Arab Sustainability Leadership Group, the first of its kind from the region to commit to sustainability and reporting. JRF is currently the only NGO member of the group. Almost 2,000 GRI reports are expected to be written this year.
Despite the rain and the chilly weather witnessed on Friday morning, thousands of Jordanians participated in a march to raise awareness on road accidents, calling on motorists and pedestrians to heed traffic rules. Her Majesty Queen Rania participated in the march, organised by the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) as part of its recently launched campaign entitled KAFA, or “enough”. Queen Rania, who chairs the RHAS board of trustees, also signed the KAFA petition along with several representatives of the public and private sectors and civil society institutions, who pledged commitment for collaborative efforts towards reducing traffic accidents in the Kingdom. Sporting a T-shirt with the campaign slogan, the Queen marched alongside several Jordanians, who lost family members in traffic accidents. The participants, who marched from the Children’s Museum in King Hussein Park to the Ministry of Public Works near the 8th Circle, carried several posters and placards, highlighting the grave consequences of collisions and other traffic accidents. “Each week, five children are killed in road accidents,” one placard read, while another said: “One Jordanian is killed every nine minutes in a car accident.” Other posters focused on speeding, considered the main reason behind traffic accidents. “Speeding is a crime that cannot be interpreted as a matter of destiny,” said one banner. Queen Rania announced the KAFA campaign at the end of last month at a meeting with the campaign’s ambassadors, who represent the Kingdom’s various governorates. During the meeting, the Queen referred to the increasing number of traffic accidents and the tragic stories behind them - of mothers losing their sons or sons losing their parents. More than 7,000 citizens have been killed and 175,000 injured due to traffic accidents over the past 10 years, according to the Public Security Department (PSD). During Friday’s march, participants held aloft pictures of children killed in road accidents and banners depicting figures and statistics on gravity of the traffic situation in the Kingdom. Education Minister Tayseer Nueimi, PSD Director Major General Mazen Qadi and several senior officials took part in the march. University and school students were also among the marchers, seeking to mobilise support to achieve the goals of the campaign which seeks to bring about behavioural changes and prompt individuals to be more responsible on the roads. The initiative has three main components: KAFA Youth, KAFA Children and the KAFA media campaign.
Foreign Minister Salah Bashir arrived in Cairo on Saturday to take part in today’s emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss the situation in Lebanon, as Jordan urged dialogue among the Lebanese forces to end the ongoing crisis.
Also on Saturday, a total of 212 Jordanians, of whom 200 are students, arrived in the Kingdom yesterday afternoon from Beirut.
According to the Jordanian embassy in Beirut, there are about 630 Jordanian students enrolled in Lebanon’s universities, including the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University.
On Friday, His Majesty King Abdullah discussed with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, in a telephone call, the latest developments in Lebanon.
The two leaders voiced concern over the latest developments and their repercussions on the future of Lebanon, stressing the need to resort to reason to protect the greater interests of Lebanon and preserve its unity and sovereignty.
The Monarch said it was important that all Lebanese forces work to settle the situation and restore stability to the country, noting that dialogue leading to consensual solutions is the only exit from the current crisis.
His Majesty also emphasised Jordan’s support for the Arab League efforts, reiterating that the initiative the umbrella organisation launched entails an acceptable solution to the crisis, which has taken a violent turn since Wednesday.
The initiative calls for electing army leader General Michel Sleiman as president and forming a national unity government.
Meanwhile, Bashir stressed on Friday that Jordan is watching developments in Lebanon closely, warning against any further escalation.
Bashir urges self-restraint and dialogue among the Disputed parties in Lebanon, reaffirming Jordan’s support for the legitimate government and constitutional institutions.
Upon his arrival in Cairo, Bashir met with Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa to discuss the Lebanon crisis.
His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday sent a cable of condolences to Spain’s King Juan Carlos over the death of Spain’s former prime minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo. In the cable, the Monarch expressed his deepest condolences over the death of the former prime minister, who assumed the post in the early 1980s.
Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday announced the formation of the Arab Sustainability Leadership Group (ASLG), the first of its kind from the region to commit to sustainability and reporting.
The Queen, who made the announcement while delivering the keynote address at the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Amsterdam, also appealed to the audience of over 1,000 global business leaders to make Arab youth part of their social equity agenda.
The ASLG will encourage businesses to balance profit with environmental protection and equal opportunity.
The network, which currently brings together 16 business, government, NGO and civil society leaders, “will be the region’s voice on the global stage, ensuring the Arab world not only catches up, but keeps pace with the frontrunners in the field [of sustainability]”, the Queen announced.
By leading the ASLG, Queen Rania pledged to “spotlight the issue of social equity”.
“In the Arab world, we desperately need to focus our energies on creating equal opportunity for all, particularly our young people, our potential, our future,” she added.
Expressing support for the ASLG, GRI CEO Ernst Ligteringen said: “GRI is inspired hearing about this new development towards greater sustainability in the region” and would “partner with the group at every opportunity”.
Her Majesty highlighted many issues which need attention in the region as she encouraged the attendees to “put the boys and girls and young people of my region at the top of your boardroom agendas because a world where so many youth are hungering for opportunity is not a sustainable world”.
“Sixty per cent of our region is under the age of 30; that’s 70 million young people in the Arab world. They need our help, your help, in order to become all they can be,” said the Queen.
“At the moment, six million of our children are not enrolled in schools; over half of them are girls. At the moment, 9.2 million of our young people are illiterate; they cannot read your advertisements or fill in your job application forms. At the moment, almost 1 in 5 of our population lives below the national poverty line; children are out labouring, instead of learning, just to make ends meet,” she warned, “and we have the world’s highest rate of youth unemployment; only one in three young people has a job”.
Encouraging companies to chart progress and outline their goals in a sustainability report for all concerned stakeholders, Queen Rania cited the most recent Edelman Trust Barometer survey, saying that when consumers consider a company socially responsible they are more likely to buy their products, recommend them and then invest in them.
The same survey, however, noted that less than half the respondents trust companies to do “what’s right”. Sustainability reports provide companies with the means to prove they are being responsible, accountable and transparent.
“For companies that want to remain competitive, [sustainability reports] are crucial,” said the Queen.
Almost 2,000 GRI reports are expected to be written this year, including one for the Jordan River Foundation (JRF), a nonprofit NGO founded and chaired by Queen Rania. JRF will be the first NGO in the region to publish a sustainability report.
Quoting the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, Queen Rania urged the business world to “let conscience be your compass” as they commit to sustainability and reporting.
His Majesty King Abdullah and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday inaugurated the second exhibition of Jordanian industries, where over 45 Jordanian companies are taking part.
Her Majesty Queen Rania and the Azerbaijani first lady attended the opening ceremony.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, an agreement in the field of military defence was signed between the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) and the Azerbaijani ministry of defence industries.
Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to carry out joint military industrial projects, similar agreements were signed between the two sides last year and during SOFEX which took place last month in Amman.
The trade fair, which will run through May 9th, is organised by the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation.
Participating companies represent various Jordanian industries, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, Dead Sea products, ready-made garments, electric equipment, foodstuff, herbs, spices, stone and marble, as well as plastic and engineering equipment.
Minister of Industry and Trade Amer Hadidi described the Azeri market as “promising”, noting it can absorb the Jordanian products and expressed hope that Jordan will have a share of the investments in the country.
Jordanian businesspeople were hopeful the fair would contribute to better commercial and economic ties especially since Azerbaijan is a flourishing market.
The King and Queen returned home yesterday following a two-day visit to the Central Asian country, where King Abdullah and Aliyev held talks on means to enhance bilateral cooperation and the latest developments in the Middle East peace process.
The two countries signed on Monday two economic cooperation deals in addition to the four signed in July 2007, aimed at stronger ties and mutual benefiting from each other’s edges.
His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to General Thein Sein, the prime minister of the Union of Myanmar, over the death of thousands of Myanmar citizens in the cyclone which hit the Southeast Asian nation earlier this week. The death toll reached over 22,000 with more than 41,000 others missing and up to 1 million people left homeless.
Russian Ambassador to Jordan Alexander Kalugin yesterday commended His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts in supporting peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. His remarks were made during a celebration organised by the embassy marking the 63rd anniversary of the world’s victory over fascism during World War II. He added that Russia will continue to play its part in supporting international peace efforts, particularly in the Middle East.