Fakhoury meets UNFPA chief

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury on Tuesday met with a UN delegation headed by Natalia Kanem, under secretary general of the UN/executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and an accompanying delegation, a Planning Ministry statement said.

Fakhoury briefed the delegation on the challenges facing Jordan due to the successive regional crises, which affected the Kingdom’s economic growth, and put pressure on its infrastructure and services such as health, education and transportation.

The minister and the delegation discussed UNFPA Country Programme in Jordan for 2018-2022 and its contribution to supporting the national development plans and achieving the sustainable development goals in accordance with the Jordan Document 2025 and the government’s executive programmes.

Regarding population policies, Fakhoury highlighted the efforts of the government in preparing the demographic projections and coming up with means to transform these population challenges into sustainable development opportunities, the statement added.

“Despite the huge challenges Jordan is facing, it continues implementing its reform and development plans and is currently preparing a plan for stimulating the economic growth in the next five years”, Fakhoury said.

The minister pointed out that the Kingdom is currently conducting the income and expenditure survey of Jordanian families in cooperation with the World Bank.

The survey, which will be finalised in August, will provide accurate figures on poverty and will contribute to improving the implementation of the strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion, the minister said.

For her part, Kanem stressed UNFPA’s commitment to supporting Jordan at various levels, namely by achieving the sustainable development goal 10, which is related to youth and reproductive health.

She commended the Jordanian development model, the reform path, and Jordan’s resilience in dealing with the refugees, according to the statement.