Jordan seeks to invest in alternative energy to ‘become powerhouse’ — King

AMMAN — Jordan has “learned lessons because of the regional turmoil” and is seeking to invest in alternative energy, “which is going to make Jordan into a powerhouse”, His Majesty King Abdullah has said.

“We are gifted with 300 days of the year with beautiful sunshine; and because we are an energy-importing country, renewables are going to be very important. So there is a major leap in renewable energy in Jordan. And we are targeting to be an exporter of renewable energies to Europe and beyond,” the King said in an interview with John Defterios, CNN emerging markets editor, part of which was broadcast on Friday.

His Majesty said Jordan is working to attract investments out of its belief in the importance of creating jobs for its young population, noting that the Middle East has “the largest youth cohort in history”.

“We’re talking about 25 million jobs in the next decade. So this is why one of the reasons we want to launch this because it is so important for us to get jobs for young people,” he added.

Noting that the Kingdom’s export has been its human talent, King Abdullah said work is now needed to “adapt Jordan and our young population to be able to take advantage of that”.

“We are a young population, tech-savvy, bi-lingual. So, a small country to be able to adapt to the region challenges is something that we have been usually fairly successful in being able to do.”

Commenting on Jordan’s goal to reach a growth rate of 7.5 per cent in the 10-years’ time, the King said the target is “doable”.

“We are at three [per cent] at the moment. We hope to be at four next year and get ourselves back up to seven,” he added.

Discussing the regional situation, the King said the Daesh terror group is “our tactical enemy number one”.

“We have 1.4 million refugees in Jordan, which is a tremendous burden for our country, but there are also displaced Syrians across our border, fairly safe, fairly stable. And I believe that people should start looking at how do we make that southern Syria area more conducive to a normal life,” he added.

Commenting on the destruction of Palmyra in Syria and other heritage sites, the King said “it just makes no sense whatsoever, how these people think. I think they have no concept of humanity, of religion, of life; and I think it is just a wake-up call for all of us what this threat is.”