Jordan 2025 draft expected by the end of August — Fakhoury

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury headed a meeting of the coordination committee for preparing the 2016-2018 Executive Development Programme (EDP), which will incorporate the first phase of the “Jordan 2025 vision and national strategy”.

According to a ministry statement, the minister highlighted the efforts of committee members in setting up the Jordan 2025 vision, which depicts the “Jordan we aim to have in 2025, taking into consideration the massive regional challenges Jordan is facing”.

He added that the document adopted a dialogue-based participatory method with all stakeholders, including the private and public sectors as well as civil society organisations and Parliament. 

The document will be launched next week under Royal patronage, the ministry said. 

Fakhoury highlighted Jordan’s safety and security despite its location in a region of turmoil, adding that Jordan has been able to overcome many challenges, bearing many burdens due to the region’s instability, including the Syrian crisis and its aftermath of refugee influx to the Kingdom, which brought pressure on the national economy as well as the infrastructure.

He added that the document will cover the upcoming 10 years and that the ministry will work on translating the vision and the national strategy through three consecutive executive development plans to be incorporated into the executive development projects of the years 2016-2018, 2019-2021 and 2022-2025.

The minister highlighted the need for precise identification of priorities in the programme, taking into consideration the level of importance, readiness and expected effect of the project, as well as the administrative and technical capabilities of the concerned body. 

He noted that there will be specific standards for accepting suggested projects, underscoring the need for vertical and horizontal integration of the programmes. He cited the need for a top-down and bottom-up integration with national and sectoral goals as well as initiatives, programmes and projects, in addition to horizontal integration with various sectors.

When the programme’s draft, and the list of programmes and projects are ready, the ministry will work on harmonising them with the general budget and the budgets of independent governmental units, in cooperation with the Finance Ministry and the General Budget Department, according to Fakhoury. 

The funding priority will be given to ongoing and under-construction projects and projects of ultimate necessity, he said, noting that expectations should be within financial abilities. The 2016-2018 EDP will be fundamental in the 2016-2018 budget.

He added that the 2016-2018 EDP will undergo several stages, starting with the accreditation of the coordination committee, reaching meetings with Cabinet committees and ministers’ councils to discuss each sector’s projects in order to guarantee coordination between development sectors, and to better identify priorities.

“There will be a funding gap in the executive programme that we will seek to bridge through external loans from states and financing organisations in order to provide funding for the projects,” the minister said.

Fakhoury added that the EDP will feature tools to monitor performance and achievement, with indicators on all levels. The ministry and the Prime MinistryTs achievement unit will work on creating a unified follow-up system to serve all executive bodies (ministries and governmental departments) by connecting them to the system and publishing transparent reports.

Fakhoury highlighted the importance of finishing work on the final draft for the programme by the end of August this year.