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AMMAN — Public Works Minister Sami Halaseh on Thursday paid a field visit to the locations of planned infrastructure projects and others under implementation in Karak.

The minister started his tour at the locations of planned projects to check on designs and preparations, while he had a first-hand look at progress in roads and buildings under construction. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) and Qatar Charity on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation and implement joint ventures.

JHCO Secretary General Ayman Mefleh and Chief Executive of Qatar Charity Yusuf Bin Ahmed Al Kuwari signed the deal.

Mefleh said that the agreement aims at enhancing cooperation between the two charity organisations in implementing humanitarian projects that serve the local communities and the Syrian refugees.

For his part, Al Kuwari stressed the importance of assisting Jordan to alleviate its burdens resulting from hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees.

AMMAN — A Royal Decree was issued on Wednesday appointing a new board for the Independent Elections Commission (IEC).

The decision came in line with a 2012 law governing the body, whose establishment came in implementation of a 2011 amendment to the Constitution.

Khaled Kalaldeh was named the president of the agency’s board, while Nazih Ammarin, Samar Haj Hassan, Zuheir Abu Fares and Nayef Al Ibrahim were named members, according to a Royal Court statement.

Another Royal Decree was issued on Wednesday accepting the resignation of the IEC former board members Riyadh Shakaa, Asma Khader, Mohammad Masalha, Samar Haj Hassan and Ali Hrout.

A third Royal Decree accepted the resignation of Kalaldeh as minister of political and parliamentary affairs as of Wednesday. 

AMMAN — Jordan will consider sending an ambassador to Libya at the right time, Mohammad Momani, the government’s spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Momani, who is also minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications told The Jordan Times that “our embassy in Tripoli” is still there but there is no staff in it after the incident that involved the abduction of the Kingdom’s ambassador to Libya two years ago. 

Fawaz Aitan, Jordan’s envoy to Tripoli, was kidnapped in the Libyan capital on April 15, 2014, by masked gunmen, and was released one month later.

Since then, the Kingdom has not sent any diplomat to replace Aitan.

Momani’s remarks regarding sending a new envoy to Libya came in response to a question by The Jordan Times, as some countries that closed their embassies there announced on Wednesday that they would reopen their missions in Tripoli after the arrival of the unity government in the capital following a reconciliation process.

According to news reports, one of Libya’s rival governments has resigned, which will help the UN-brokered unity government to assert itself in Tripoli.

In a statement, the National Salvation Government said it would “cease duties” as executive authority, and therefore absolve itself of responsibility for the country’s fate.

“We put the interests of the nation above anything else, and stress that the bloodshed stop and the nation be saved from division and fragmentation,” the statement read, as quoted by the Associated Press.

It added that Western nations view the new unity government as the best hope for ending Libya’s chaos and uniting all factions against an increasingly powerful Daesh affiliate, which has seized the central city of Sirte. Another government, based in the eastern city of Tobruk, still opposes the UN-backed body.

Some of the countries that are considering reopening their embassies in Tripoli are France, Turkey, Italy and Tunisia according to news reports.

AMMAN — The government on Wednesday endorsed a set of incentives to boost growth in the ICT sector, which contributes some 12 per cent to the country's income.

Under the decision, services related to software development, mobile apps, website portals, outsourcing, digital content and electronic games, information technology training and e-learning will be exempted from sales tax and customs duties. 

Goods and services necessary for ICT services will also be subject to a zero sales tax rate. Income tax rates on such services will be reduced to 4 per cent. 

"These incentives will help trigger growth in the ICT sector and help turn Jordan into an ICT hub," Minister of Information and Communications Technology Majd Shweikeh said in a statement to The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

The move, the minister said, came after thorough studies and discussions with stakeholders and the private sector.

“These incentives will help reduce costs and enable the attraction of investors into the sector, which will help in jobs generation,” the minister added.

The ICT sector’s revenues dropped by 14 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013, down to JD546 million, according to figures by the ICT Association of Jordan (int@j).

The decline was attributed to several local and external factors including lack of incentives in previous years to boost the sector.

In October 2015, the government announced plans for launching a strategy that would function as a roadmap to make Jordan a regional ICT hub in 2016.

The strategy, which is reinitiating the REACH initiative that Jordan first launched in 1999, will detail action plans, projects and measures required to “genuinely turn the Kingdom into an ICT hub in the region”.

The 2016-2025 REACH initiative will work on finding practical solutions to challenges facing the sector. 

The strategy focusses on the development of human resources, facilitating access to finance and enhancing infrastructure to create jobs. 

AMMAN — The first Syrian refugee family, who was processed through the US recently-established temporary offsite processing centre “surge operation”, departed Amman on Wednesday to the US, with hopes that they would be able to integrate in their new community.

Although 1,000 Syrians have been already resettled in the US from Jordan, the family of seven members that left Amman on Wednesday “is the first family to depart after having been granted refugee status by our US immigration officers during our three-month resettlement surge operation that began on February 1”, said Alice G. Wells, the US ambassador to Jordan.

Last September, US President Barack Obama issued a directive ordering the admission of 10,000 Syrian refugees to the US by September 30, 2016.

To speed up the process of resettling Syrian refugees in Jordan, the US Embassy has established the temporary processing centre, which will operate until April 28, said US Embassy officials during a media tour to meet the departing family at the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) and to the new centre.

Ahmad (Who asked to use his first name only)along with his wife and five children said they were thankful to Jordan that hosted them for three years and he and his family are hopeful for a good life in the US, where, he hoped, his children would obtain good education.

The 45-year-old father arrived to Jordan three years ago, coming from Homs, and lived in Mafraq city, North of Amman.

“I had no work here, but was living on [food] coupons I received”, Ahmad said, adding that one of his ambitions is to find a job in the US to be able to support his family.

About his preparations to start a new life in a new destination, Ahmad said he insists on learning English and that  “he is ready to integrate in the US and start a new life”.

The father of two boys and three daughters made the remarks at the QAIA in Amman, before his flight took off to Kansas City, Missouri.

“The family has suffered greatly during the Syrian conflict and I am proud that the United States is embracing this family as part of our US Refugee Admissions Programme,” Wells told the press at QAIA after meeting the family.

She added that their new life in America ensures the children a safe and secure environment to live in, and where they will receive the medical attention that they require, the education opportunities that they need to grow, and share in the dignity that they deserve.

She explained this operation (the surge), which will process 10,000 refugees by April 28, is part of “our effort to reach President Obama’s directive to send 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States by September 30, 2016, while also ensuring that every refugee accepted by the United States has been thoroughly screened and vetted through our rigorous security process”.

Regional refugee coordinator at the US embassy in Amman, Gina Kassem, said the number announced by the president is a global number, but the very vast majority will come out of Jordan. The 10,000 is a “floor and not a ceiling, and it is possible to increase the number”, she told the press during the tour.

She said 600 refugees are interviewed on the site every day. 

Kassem explained that the resettlement process normally takes 18 to 24 months from the start “when the UNHCR refers refugees to us, until the time they land at the US”.

However, after the presidential directive, the embassy established this “surge” centre.

“In three months, we will process a minimum of 10,000 refugees”, to finish by April 28. Although the processing centre will continue after this date, it will be in a normal number and in the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) locations.

As for the selection process, the official said the cases are prioritised based on vulnerability and after being referred by the UNHCR. “The US reviews the referrals, accept them in this programme to start processing.” 

“We do not have exclusions or look for families with certain education background, language skills or other socioeconomic factors, and we do not cut family sizes”, Kassem stressed, noting that the IOM does not have authority on the cases, but their job is excluded to validating the information.

His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), on Wednesday checks on equipment used during the joint ‘North Storm’ exercise executed by the JAF and the UK army units.

The exercise included aerial surveillance, dealing with ambushes and a medical evacuation drill.

AMMAN – Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury headed the Jordanian delegation to the 45th meeting of the Board of Governors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) in Bahrain, which also hosted the Joint Annual Meeting of the Arab Financial Institutions in April 5-6.

According to a Planning Ministry statement, Fakhoury, who is also Jordan's governor at AFESD, said the meeting discussed a number of issues related to the work and activities of the fund and approved the administrative and financial reports for 2015.

The minister highlighted the importance of participating in the meeting as the fund played an "outstanding" role in supporting development in Jordan, indicating that AFESD contributed to funding 46 projects between 1975 and 2015 valued at nearly $1.9 billion. 

According to the statement, the value of grants extended by the fund during the same period reached around $46 million.

The ministry said that Fakhoury also took part in the sixth meeting of the supervisory council of special account that the Arab Fund created to support SMEs. 

The special account funded a number of programmes and SMEs in Jordan through concessionary loans that amounted to $130 million. It also provided a grant of $250,000 to the Development and Employment Fund, to develop its tools of providing funding to SMEs, said the statement, which noted that Jordan and Djibouti were the only two Arab countries that received such grants among member countries in 2015.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Fakhoury held meetings with AFESD Director General and Chairman Abdul Lateef Al Hamad, Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Abdelwahab Ahmad Al Bader and Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Saudi Fund for Development Youssef Bin Ibrahim Al Bassam and discussed ways to boost future cooperation. 

He stressed the need to increase the funds' financial and technical support to enable the Kingdom implement its priority projects in the various sectors, particularly in light of the challenges facing the Jordanian economy due to regional instability and its humanitarian repercussions, said the statement. 

Fakhoury, according to the statement, urged the executives of the Arab financial and development institutions to consider the current conditions of middle-income countries that are affected by regional conflicts and to provide them with concessionary loans.

Fakhoury and the AFSED chairman discussed follow-up and field visits to governorate development projects and also looked into designing comprehensive development programmes to support areas requiring more focused interventions such the Jordan Valley. 

At the meetings, the minister briefed the officials on the outcomes of London conference on supporting the countries hosting Syrian refugees, and urged them translate their financial pledges to Jordan to enable it overcome challenges caused by the influx of Syrian refugees through funding projects listed in the Jordan Response Plan.

Also on the sidelines of the Bahrain conference, the ministry said that Fakhoury held a meeting with Khaled Abboudi, the CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, which is part of the Islamic Development Bank. 

The meeting focused on discussing the corporation's future plans in Jordan and the role it can play in funding SMEs in cooperation with government institutions and Islamic banks in the Kingdom. The corporation is currently extending funding lines to the private sector to implement a number of projects in renewable energy. It also works on the Public Private Partnership initiative to create and promote the special development zones in Jordan, particularly in border areas.

The minister also participated with other members of Jordanian delegation, including Minister of Finance Omar Malhas and Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan Ziad Fariz in different sessions of meetings that discussed development challenges facing the Arab region and presented national reform efforts, including the Jordan 2025 Vision and the Executive Development Programme for 2016 – 2018. 

Also on the sidelines of the joint annual meetings in Manama, Malhas and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Obeid Al Tayer signed an agreement to avert dual taxation between the Kingdom and the UAE, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported Wednesday.

Malhas said the agreement would increase Jordanian-UAE cooperation in all sectors and would boost investment activities between both countries, raise the commercial exchange volume and enhance financial and economic cooperation. 

Fakhoury attended the signing ceremony of the agreement.

AMMAN — University of Jordan (UJ) students on Wednesday decided to suspend their sit-in against the raise of tuition fees for the parallel and post-graduate programmes.

The move came in response to a decision by the university's board of trustees to lower the study fees for the two programme. 

At a session held Wednesday, the UJ's board of trustees, chaired by Adnan Badran, decided to reduce the raise on the parallel programme tuition fees by 50 per cent this year and on post-graduate studies by different percentages, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The board also decided to treat excelling students in the parallel programme the same like those enrolled in the regular programme, in accordance with certain criteria to be set later.

IT also gave PhD students the priority to teach foundation courses at the university in their respective fields.

Since February 28, UJ students had been staging an ongoing protest on campus against the new hikes, with UJ alumni and students from other universities joining it in a show of support.

Around 27 protesters were referred on Tuesday to the university administration for violating orders issued by the university administration earlier this week.

AMMAN — A 20-year-old man on Wednesday was charged with manslaughter in connection with the murder of his younger sister a day earlier in a town in Irbid, official sources said.

The 16-year-old victim was rushed to a nearby hospital suffering from multiple bruises to different parts of her body and the attending physicians declared her dead on arrival and immediately contacted the police, a senior official source said.

Police investigated the incident and concluded that “her sibling was the perpetrator of this murder”, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“It is a family dispute between the two that led to her brother beating her,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The senior official said that initial testimonies of the victim indicated that the suspect entered his sister’s room and saw her playing with her mobile.

“The brother attempted to see what was his sister doing with on the mobile but she refused an argument ensued,” the senior official source told The Jordan Times.

The brother reportedly grabbed a wooden stick and struck his sister on her head and different parts of her body, the source added.

An autopsy performed by a team of pathologists headed by Ali Shotar determined that the victim died of several blunt traumas to the head, the senior source said.

The suspect was detained for 15 days at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigations.