Prince Hassan celebrates 71st birthday today

AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan today celebrates his 71st birthday.

Prince Hassan has engaged in many events, fixtures and engagements over the past year. 

He has spent much of his time addressing the issue of the sacred status of occupied Jerusalem, and its importance as an independent city-state above the political fray, a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times said, adding that the prince has repeated his call for developing concrete mechanisms for the management of holy places, and for the establishment of a foundation to support Jerusalem’s residents and their safety, as well as that of worshippers of all faiths. 

The significance of Jerusalem, whilst being intimately connected to decades of failed peace negotiations is, above all, temporal, the prince has reiterated. 

Moving from the spiritual to the scientific, the success of the World Science Forum, held this year for the first time in the Arab world, under the aegis of the Royal Scientific Society, was a source of great pride for HRH.

Inaugurated in November by His Majesty King Abdullah, and chaired by HRH Princess Sumaya, it was attended by over a thousand scientists, policymakers, Nobel laureates, academics and investors under the theme "Science for Peace." The event provided unique exposure for local scientists and young people in Jordan.

A significant amount of Prince Hassan's work this past year was dedicated to meetings with the JHCO, UNWRA, UNICEF and other NGOs to try to remedy the problems that will inevitably affect the vulnerable and needy, both Jordanians and those who have taken refuge in the Kingdom, who will inevitably suffer great hardship if the proposed cutbacks of funding to these agencies takes place as has been suggested. Alongside the Higher Council for Science and Technology, the Prince also launched a national “Zero Hunger” initiative to improve food security and nutrition across the Kingdom, the statement read. 

In the international arena, Prince Hassan continued to address the performance of international institutions and the current formation of the global political and economic system. In July of last year, he called for a new architecture for the “Levant”, which would be based on intra-independence for each nation, with common priorities that respect the national sovereignty of each country, economic unity and a collective Arab identity.  

Furthermore, during a recent ATF Arab Solidarity Conference, Prince Hassan spoke with optimism of his belief in “enhancing free thinking and innovative patterns of thinking, working and behaving and the potential for a renaissance and development movement in the region", according to the statement.

The Prince was also a member of the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace's final report “A matter of survival” launched in Geneva in September 2017. 

The prince has continued to work tirelessly with national and international organisations to ensure the preservation of the region’s glorious but threatened cultural heritage, and to promote greater awareness at home and abroad, of the artistic, scientific and philosophical work, both past and present, that the region has contributed to today’s civilisation.

Through his institutes The Royal Scientific Society, the Royal Institute of Inter-Faith Studies, the ATF, the Higher Council for Science and Technology, the WANA Institute and El Hassan Youth Award, he has created a knowledge based network to articulate, advance and diligently serve the interests of Jordan, the statement concluded.