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AMMAN – Border Guards on Friday, after applying the rules of engagement, killed two people who were approaching from Syria towards the Jordanian borders and found 100,000 Captagon pills, an official source from the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army said.

AMMAN – Saudi Arabia on Friday allowed the entry of 150 trucks were stranded on the Jordanian-Saudi border laden with fruit and vegetables, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Saudi Arabian authorities have responded to communications made by the Jordanian foreign affairs, agriculture and traffic ministries to allow the trucks enter Saudi Arabia.

The vehicles were delayed because of some missing parts that should be on them according to the Saudi Arabian technical standards.

AMMAN — The first motorbike factory in the Kingdom opened on Saturday in Fuheis, and is meant to meet the local market needs in providing products at rates that suit citizens, according to factory founder Nazih Tuaimeh.

He noted that the types to be manufactured target most classes of the society and will be produced according to standards that meet Jordan’s topography, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Work is currently focusing on producing three-wheeled motorbikes to increase safety on the roads, he added.

AMMAN — Importers and merchants of food items have criticised multiplicity of oversight actors in the sector, calling for unifying these parties to facilitate the sector’s work, the Foodstuff Traders Association (FTA) said Saturday.

At the annual meeting of the FTA’s general assembly, they said it is no longer acceptable for more than eight institutions to continue monitoring and inspecting importers and traders’ warehouses, shops, malls and food factories, according to an FTA statement.

FTA members also criticised “weak monitoring procedures” in some development zones, saying some merchants use these zones as a cover to avoid customs, which “harmed law-abiding merchants, the statement added.

AMMAN – A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Martin Cerisola has recently, concluded a visit to Jordan, where it discussed with officials policies and reforms for 2016 and beyond, a fund statement said on Saturday. 

The statement, e-mailed to The Jordan Times, said the mission visited Amman in March 27 to April 4 to take stock of economic developments since the last IMF visit in November 2015, and to discuss with the authorities plans for economic policies and reforms that could be part of a fund-supported programme, the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Cerisola, who recently replaced Kristina Kostial as IMF chief mission to Jordan, said the discussions focused on how to continue striking the delicate balance between sustaining fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability, with the need to implement policies and reforms to support economic growth and promote employment in a difficult economic and regional context. 

The IMF and the government started late last year discussions over a new assistance programme to help the Kingdom implement medium-term structural reforms and to enable Jordan to benefit from the fundís financing tools. 

The EFF would focus on growth and job creation and improving the Kingdom’s business environment to be more attractive to investors, according to the statement. 

The EFF is another programme Jordan is seeking to implement with the IMF after concluding the three-year Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in August last year, which gave the Kingdom access to around $2 billion.  

The IMF team and the authorities discussed the potential for policies and reforms in areas such as fiscal policy, debt management, energy, access to credit and the financial sector, as well as the business environment, he said, adding discussions also focused on the prospects for additional financing (including grants) from donors and international financial organisations under the Jordan Compact and Jordan Response Plan to the Syrian crisis on how such additional financing should fit within an overall macroeconomic framework that preserves debt sustainability.

Jordan Compact is a new holistic approach reached between Jordan and the international community to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis in February of this year. 

“Discussions are expected to continue during the Spring Meetings in Washington DC and the IMF team would expect to return to Amman in May to continue the discussions toward an agreement on macroeconomic policies and comprehensive structural reforms under a Fund-supported programme,” Cerisola said. 

The 2016 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group are scheduled for April 15-17. 

Cerisola said the IMF team met with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Minister of Finance Omar Malhas, Central Bank of Jordan Governor Ziad Fariz, Minister of Planning and International Planning Imad Fakhoury, and other senior government officials. 

The team also met with members of Parliament, with representatives of the banking and private sectors, and from the donor community, he said, adding that discussions focused on recent economic developments and government’s economic policy and reform agenda to sustain macroeconomic stability, boost economic growth and reduce unemployment.

Review of economic performance in 2015

The IMF mission chief said Jordan’s economy has continued to perform favourably despite the difficult regional environment as the conflicts in Iraq and Syria continue to impinge upon exports, tourism and overall economic performance. 

Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth reached 2.4 per cent in 2015, while inflation was -0.9 per cent, owing to a decline in food and fuel-related prices, with core inflation stabilising at 2 per cent.  The current account deficit (excluding grants) reached 11.7 per cent of GDP in 2015, reflecting continued weakness in exports and tourism. 

International reserves remain adequate. Despite low oil prices, some revenue slippages and one-off expenditures by end-year have brought the primary government deficit –– excluding grants and transfers to National Electric Power Company  (NEPCO) and Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) –– to 5.2 per cent of GDP in 2015, up from 4.5 per cent of GDP in 2014. 

With NEPCO continuing to make steady progress towards operating balance, the combined deficit of the central government and NEPCO reached 6.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, above the 3.5 per cent of GDP deficit projected under the SBA, Jordan and the IMF concluded in August of last year. 

As a result, government gross and net public debt stood at 93.4 and 85.8 per cent of GDP at end-2015, respectively. For 2016, real GDP growth is expected at 2.5–3 per cent, supported by low oil prices and some rebound in confidence related to the implementation of policies under the Jordan Compact and Response Plan. 

There are some downside risks from the regional implications of lower oil prices on Jordan’s remittances and foreign investment, while the expected relaxation of EU rules of origin could boost exports, growth and employment ahead. Inflation is projected at 1–1.5 per cent, as fuel prices stabilise.  

AMMAN — The first group of officers from Iraq’s national security forces started the  NATO training course at the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Centre in Amman on April 2, 2016.

According to a statement sent to The Jordan Times by NATO, this training is part of NATO’s effort to help Iraq build up its defence capacities, reform its security sector and increase its ability to contribute to regional stability.

In the next six months, NATO said 350 Iraqi officers will be trained in the course. Training will begin with focus on military medicine, civil military planning and on countering improvised explosive devices.

It added that a similar NATO defence capacity building cooperation is also ongoing with Jordan.

State Minister for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said this programme is part of the cooperation between Jordan and NATO that is ongoing and continuous.

“We consider training and enhancing the capabilities of those fighting terrorism as one of our essential weapons,” the minister said.   

“We have the best training centres in the world; we train thousands of personal every year from several countries,” Momani told The Jordan Times, adding that this programme implemented with NATO is “consistent with our vision to help and empower Iraqis and others to fights terrorist organisations in their countries”.

The minister, who is also the government’s spokesperson, added: “We view this as one of the main cooperation programmes and one of the main steps that we take in order to fight terrorism, and to empower and build the capacity of those in the field who are fighting terrorism in their villages and town, being targeted by terrorist organisations”. 

According to the NATO statement, this initiative is part of NATO’s Defence Capacity Building programme for Iraq, launched in response to a request by the Iraqi government. 

“It will include advice on security sector reform, military training, explosive ordnance disposal, de-mining, cyber defence, civil emergency planning, civil-military planning, countering improvised explosive devices, military medicine and medical assistance,” the statement explained.

Building the capacities of inclusive Iraqi defense and security forces is one of the ways in which NATO can help project stability to partner countries, and the programme has been designed to complement efforts by individual NATO Allies, by the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh, along with the EU and UN, the statement said.

AMMAN — Jordan strongly denounced the Israeli occupation forces' arrest of Al Aqsa Mosque Imam Sheikh Mohammed Salim following Friday prayers.

Israeli occupation forces arrested Sheikh Salim for hours as he left Al Aqsa Mosque accusing him of “incitement” in his sermon delivered at the mosque.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Hayel Dawood expressed the Kingdom's rejection and denouncement of the Israeli occupation authorities' arrest of a "cleric performing his religious duties," describing the short detention of the imam as an "interference in the mosque's affairs".

Dawood also said that the ministry has followed up on the detention of Sheikh Salim who was released hours later, according to Petra. 

Feras Dabbas, press spokesperson of the Islamic Waqf, was quoted in international press as saying that despite the intervention of the director of the Waqf, Sheikh Azzam Al Khatib, the occupation forces insisted on arresting Salim and had taken him to a detention centre, without revealing his whereabouts.

The Jordanian Hashemite leadership, is the custodian of Islamic and Christian holy shrines in East Jerusalem and Amman, appoints Waqf officials at Al Haram Al Sharif. 

AMMAN — The Higher Education Council (HEC) on Saturday decided to hold academic tests for students with non-Jordanian secondary school certificates. They should pass the planned test to be eligible to apply for Jordanian universities, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The decision comes to regulate the issue after the Education Ministry’s decision not to accept secondary school certificates obtained in Sudan triggered a controversy and protests by parents. 

The ministry took the move after Jordanian students were implicated in a case of leaking general test papers in the Arab-African country. 

The HEC’s decision also applies to students who pass non-Jordanian general test in countries other than the original state issuing the certificate.

The council, at a meeting headed by Higher Education Minister Labib Khadra, decided to exclude students who pass in international programmes accredited by the Education Ministry.

Students who receive certificates after passing a national examination in the country issuing the certificate are also excluded from the decision, provided that these students study in the original country issuing the certificate, Petra added. 

The decision also leaves out students who receive a certificate from its original country, and pass an achievement test that qualifies them to be enrolled in that country’s universities.

The decision does not apply to non-Jordanian students who receive a certificate from its original country that qualifies them to directly join that country’s universities, provided that students bring an official certified document from the original country.

According to the council’s decisions, the Higher Education Institutions Accreditation Commission, in coordination with the Education Ministry, is tasked with holding the achievement test and calculating grades of students willing to join higher education institutions, based on the commission’s standards to be endorsed by the council.

The final mark will take into consideration the results of the eligibility test and those of the second secondary certificate obtained by the applicant.

The decision will be applied on all students as of the first semester of the 2016/2017 scholastic year, the HEC decided.

AMMAN — In a bid to encourage experiential tourism, the Jordan Trail Association (JTA) has developed a hiking trek that connects Um Qais in the northern tip of the country to the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, passing through areas with distinctive features.

Founded by a group of volunteers in July 2015, the association seeks to make the 600-kilometere-long trail a national product that brings to light and encourage visits to less discovered areas, the association's president, Muna Haddad, told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

The main task of the association is opening up the hiking trail, and making it more accessible to tour companies and tour guides, as well as individual hikers, she said, noting that guided trips are recommended for inexperienced hikers as the trail is not way-marked yet.

Through the association's website, hikers can download GPS coordinates for their planned hike, and get in touch with the guides and the local communities in the area.

The trail passes through various villages and badia regions with unique dishes, famous juices and traditions, a matter that enriches the experience of hikers who interact with the local communities, said trail manager and JTA co-founder Amjad Shahrour.

"You start in the greener part of Jordan in the north, Um Qais, Ajloun and all the forests, and then you go down to all the Wadis and the dramatic scenery in Wadi Mujib, Wadi Zarqa and Wadi Hedan. Then you move to the south’s deserts passing Petra and Wadi Rum," he said.

Signing up for a trip through the tour operators is not only a fun activity, but it also gives the hiker a chance to disconnect from the daily routine.

"You do not always spend time with people; in some remote sections of the trail you don't see people for days, such as the section from Petra to Humaima," he said.

Although the entire trail takes around 40 days to finish, people can go on short one-day hikes or two or three-day stretches, Haddad said, adding that "very few" people end up doing the whole trail. 

There are long distance trails all around the world and trail hiking is becoming a popular activity around the globe, therefore the association finds it "important" for Jordan to be part of that scene. 

"It is an opportunity for people to go out, enjoy the outdoors and do physical activity while engaging in the nature and culture of Jordan," she said, adding that future plans include opening up the trail further and way-marking it, making it easier to get to for non-hikers who are trying it out for the first time.

Hikers interact with the local communities in some 52 villages and engage with them along the trail for purposes like eating, drinking and having a place to stay, according to Haddad.

"It is important for us to highlight these unique localities among the Jordanian cultural fabric from north to south as well as some of the remote areas and archaeological sites that are less discovered and less known," she said.

As the situation of international tourism in generally not doing very well in the region, the trail is an opportunity for Jordanians to explore their country and support the local communities along the trail.

"There is such a big rise in responsible tourism… travellers want to know where their money is going and make sure they are spending it in the right place, and leaving a positive impact on the local communities they visit and the environment as well," she said.

Haddad added that the association communicates with hikers and educates them on how to interact "respectfully" with the local communities, and how to preserve the biodiversity of the areas along the trail through proper waste management techniques.  

The trail is a catalyst for economic activity, and the association seeks to keep the route well maintained, open and accessible, and to bring hikers on the trail, which could be further developed through the growth of businesses alongside it.

It is also open for tourists, said Nasser Tabbaa, board member of the association, and could increase the tourists' stay from the average of one week to two weeks and promote "unknown" archaeological sites.

Hikers, who are provided with instructions and tips on the association’s website, can also do the trail in reverse, from south to north.

The association has been approved for USAID support for the coming year, with a focus on capacity building, trail development and marketing.  The official partnership with USAID will be launched in the coming weeks.

AMMAN — Households across Jordan are expected to start receiving LED (light emitting diode) power-saving bulbs for free as of this week as part of a national scheme to distribute 1 million bulbs by 2020, according to the official in charge of the project.

A total of 15 NGOs across the country’s 12 governorates will start the distribution of the first batch of LED bulbs, Rasmi Hamzeh, executive director of Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund (JREEEF), told The Jordan Times recently.

Each of the NGOs will distribute 1,500 power-saving bulbs and each house will get five bulbs for free, he said.

“This is just the beginning of the national plan and by 2020 at least one million bulbs will be already distributed,” Hamzeh said, adding that the fund is set to sign more agreements over the coming weeks with several NGOs across the Kingdom for the distribution of the light bulbs to cover more areas.

The project, funded by a JD6 million grant from JREEEF, will be implemented in cooperation with the country's three power distribution companies, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Hamzeh added that his agency will work on several plans in the near future to execute a four-year strategy to support several public agencies and NGOs in installing power-saving bulbs and projects to generate electricity from renewable sources.

Jordan imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually at about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Renewable energy contribution to the overall grid in Jordan stands at around 3 per cent at preset and the Kingdom is implementing a wide array of projects in the field to increase the contribution to 10 per cent by 2020.

JREEEF was established under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Law in 2012 as an entity functioning under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. 

The basic purpose of JREEEF is to secure the funding necessary for the exploitation of renewable energy sources and the rationalisation of energy consumption, according to its website. 

Bad quality bulbs 

Hamzeh claimed that a large percentage of LED bulbs sold in the Kingdom are of bad quality. He even went into describing them as “rubbish”.

"The fund would soon start a campaign to crack down on stores selling these rubbish LED bulbs because, unfortunately, the market is full of such items," he said.

The crackdown campaign will be implemented in cooperation with the Standards and Meteorology Department and the Royal Scientific Society, Rasmi said, adding that the campaign will be coupled with an awareness campaign to educate the public on good quality power-saving bulbs and the significance of using them to reduce their monthly electricity bill.

User complaints

“At my house in Jubeiha, I have more than 20 power-saving light bulbs and the quality is just bad. I have to change them almost every month,” Mohammad Ali, a sales manager at an air conditioning company, told The Jordan Times Saturday.

“Unfortunately, dealers just want to make quick profits and disregard our right as consumers to have the best quality our money can buy,” Ali said.

Seif Qaddoumi said he has been using such bulbs at his house for more than two years. “I noticed a considerable drop in my electricity bill after using these bulbs. But the money I saved from less power consumption went to buying more bulbs.”

Qaddoumi called on authorities to ban the import of low quality items into the domestic market.

"It is unfair because I buy a light bulb for around JD3 to JD4. This is not cheap and sometimes I have to change some of them every month or two,” he added.