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AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday asserted that the Kingdom's northern border with Syria is strong and safe, voicing his confidence in the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army’s (JAF) ability to protect the country.   

“The northern border of the Kingdom is tight and safe, and our Arab Army and security bodies are capable of protecting it," the King said during a meeting with representatives and key figures from Mafraq Governorate at the Royal Court.

The King described the February 4 London donors' conference as a beginning to be built on, stressing the importance of a unified stance to benefit from the outcome of the one-day gathering, during which donors pledged to offer Jordan $2.1 billion in grants over the coming three years among a host of other assistance.

In this context, the King urged all concerned parties to shoulder their responsibilities, according to a Royal Court statement. 

His Majesty said that the government, parliamentarians and all officials should join forces to benefit from the outcome of the conference and maximise its benefits for the national economy.  

Unless Jordan deals efficiently with the issue, it will waste opportunities at hand, the King said at his meeting with the community leaders of the northeastern governorate.

"We have to work seriously," he said, directing the government to examine steps that need to be taken during the coming months so as to benefit from the positive climate of the donor conference.

King Abdullah also requested lawmakers to take part in this effort. 

Noting that the results of the conference were positive, the King highlighted the world’s appreciation of Jordan. 

The conference is a beginning and has opened various venues for Jordan in terms of assistance, developing the economy, luring investments and boosting trade from Jordan to Europe, as well as beyond, he noted. 

The Monarch underlined that he is aware of the challenges Mafraq is facing and the different burdens its people have been grappling with as a result of hosting Syrian refugees, stressing that Mafraq should be a major recipient of the support the Kingdom will receive.

Accordingly, there is a need for productive projects in different fields that meet the nature and the needs of Mafraq’s people, he noted. 

“The biggest problem is the economic situation,” he said, pointing out that Mafraq has paid a heavy price in the past few years, in light of the high influx of Syrian refugees and the crisis in Syria.

Currently, there are around 1.3 million Syrians in the Kingdom, and 10 per cent living in camps, and the remainder living in urban areas.  In Mafraq city, Syrians constitute the majority of the population, official figures have shown.  

With regard to the issue of providing jobs to Syrian refugees and concerns raised in this regard, the King assured his audience that for each job opportunity created for a Syrian worker, five job opportunities will be created for Jordanians.

At the meeting, the Monarch stressed the importance of increasing investment opportunities and expanding the industrial and trade sectors, with the support of the international community, to enable the country to deal with the economic challenges ahead.   

Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, who was present at the meeting, said the King directed Royal Court officials to implement several initiatives in Mafraq to back the government’s efforts in the desert town, which is the provincial capital of a governorate where around 550,000 people live, including 208,000 Syrian guests, according to the 2015 census. 

The initiatives include the building of 26 housing units for underprivileged families and four public parks in different areas of Mafraq, besides an amusement park for children.  

Also, they have been entrusted with establishing a branch of Zaha Cultural Centre for Childhood Development, in cooperation with the Planning Ministry, he said. 

The Royal initiatives will also work to activate youth centres in the governorate, up to 19 facilities. 

In terms of voluntary and social work, the initiatives include supporting 10 charitable societies in different areas in Qasabat Al Mafraq, Tarawneh told the attendees. 

The King’s meeting with Mafraq’s representatives is part of his efforts to keep in close contact with citizens in different parts of the country and to learn about their needs, the Royal Court said.

The Mafraq community leaders and dignitaries thanked the King for meeting with them and listening to their concerns, expressing their best wishes on the centennial of the Great Arab Revolt.

In remarks at the meeting, representatives of the northeastern governorate highlighted a number of development and economic issues in need of attention to support Mafraq.

Khaled Eitan, the leader of the Harahsheh tribe, said the people of Mafraq are sharing their limited resources with Syrian refugees, commending the King’s efforts to bring the world’s attention to the impact of the refugee crisis on Jordan.

Eitan also thanked the JAF and security agencies for defending the Kingdom’s borders and safeguarding its security.

He called for drafting laws to regulate tribal traditions such as jalwa, which entails the forced relocation of a clan if one of its members murders someone, in a bid to avoid friction between the victim’s and the killer’s tribes or families if they were living in the same area.

Speakers also commended His Majesty’s efforts to safeguard Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and thanked him for supporting young people.

They called for building a cultural centre, a public park and a care centre to house victims of domestic abuse in Mafraq. They also highlighted the need for projects to support young people and enable them to cope with the repercussions of the refugee crisis.

A representative of Mafraq’s youth, Alaa Khataibeh, called for improving agricultural lands, digging artesian wells in the governorate’s east, training and rehabilitating mosque imams, and supporting small enterprises.

Mafraq Mayor Ahmad Hawamdeh stressed the need to construct a new building for the Mafraq education directorate to replace the currently rented one, calling for more investments in the governorate and activating its development zone.

Similarly, Mafraq Chamber of Commerce President Abdullah Shdeifat called for establishing a free zone in the governorate.

AMMAN – The government on Wednesday said that allowing Syrians to join the labour market would not "by any means" affect job opportunities for Jordanians.

At a meeting with chief editors of daily newspapers and columnists to talk about the outcome of the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference, held in London last week, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said Syrian refugees in the Kingdom will not compete with Jordanians over job opportunities, adding that Syrians will be allowed to work in jobs usually shunned by Jordanians. 

Ensour said Syrians can contribute to certain sectors in the labour market, such as agriculture and construction, as the majority of labourers in such fields are guest workers from various nationalities, indicating that the percentage of Jordanian workers in the agriculture sector, for example, stands only at 7 per cent. 

On Sunday, the government announced that donor countries pledged during the London conference hundreds of millions of dollars to help Jordan cope with the Syrian refugee crisis in the form of grants and cheap loans, while the Kingdom pledged to integrate Syrians in the labour market. 

Sending a message of assurances to the Jordanian public regarding Syrians’ access to the labour market, Ensour read out a paragraph of the “Jordan Compact”, the final statement issued by the Kingdom following the London donor conference. It outlined Jordan’s “holistic approach” to the refugee crisis and listed pledges made by donors to the Kingdom.

“Cumulatively, these measures could in the coming years provide 200,000 job opportunities for Syrian refugees while they remain in the country, contributing to the Jordanian economy without competing with Jordanians for jobs,” the document said.

The premier said this sentence was misunderstood by certain media outlets which assumed that the priority would be given to Syrian nationals.

“I want to assure all Jordanians. If a Jordanian applies for a job, it will be his or hers. But if Jordanians do not go for certain jobs, the priority will go to Syrians, among the guest workers,” he added.

Labour Minister Nidal Katamine explained that 18 “closed professions” will remain exclusive to Jordanians. He named engineering, medical, education, administrative and accounting jobs as examples.

Katamine reasserted that competition for jobs will be between Syrians and guest workers from various nationalities, adding that the government agreed with the private sector to integrate Syrians within the ratios of guest workers allocated for private businesses. 

He said creating new jobs would be through new investments with priority given for Jordanians and then for Syrian workers. 

Making Syrian labour in the Kingdom more efficient would be through attracting investments to five development zones: Irbid, Karak, Muwaqqar, Maan and Mafraq, he noted.

During the London conference, the government announced that donors pledged $700 million a year for 2016, 2017 and 2018 to develop services and infrastructure in the fields of health, education, water and municipal services in host communities. 

Donors also pledged to offer concessionary loans worth $1.9 billion a year until 2018, in addition to grants worth $900 million over three years.

They also expressed willingness to secure funds for education to 80,000 to 90,000 Syrian students at a cost of $1 billion to build more classrooms and new schools to accommodate them.

AMMAN – Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Wednesday said that easing the rules of origin on Jordanian products bound for the EU would generate investments and increase the Kingdom's exports to the markets of the 28 member states of the union. 

At a meeting with chief editors of daily newspapers and columnists to speak about the outcome of the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference, held in London last week, the premier described an upcoming deal with the EU to reconsider the rules of origin as the “biggest achievement of the conference”, which saw pledges of economic and financial assistance worth billions made to the Kingdom. 

“Jordan has been trying to enter the European market for years with quality goods, but it is still hard to make it due to strict conditions imposed by them,” he said. 

Ensour explained that in order to allow products made in Jordan to enter their markets, Europeans require that local contribution to the end product be at least 65 per cent, while Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners like the the US and Canada require only 35 per cent of Jordan’s contribution to the make-up of manufactured products. 

He said that imports from the EU total around JD3.25 billion a year, while Jordanian exports do not exceed JD250 million. 

According to the European Commission data, the EU’s Association Agreement with Jordan, signed in November 1997, entered into force on May 1, 2002. The Association Agreement progressively establishes a Free Trade Area between the EU and Jordan over 12 years. 

In addition, an agreement on further liberalisation of agricultural products entered into force in 2007. A protocol on dispute settlement mechanisms for trade between the EU and Jordan initialed in December 2009 entered into force on 1 July 2011.

Regardless of these deals, the prime minister noted that Jordan has not benefited from its trade transactions with the EU, unlike the Kingdom’s free trade agreement with the US, which, he said, has boosted exports to the US from $100 million a year to around $2 billion. 

Simplifying rules of origin will bring investors to the Kingdom’s development zones and would create thousands of jobs, he said. 

The government said the EU has agreed during the London conference to reconsider and simplify rules of origin on Jordanian exports for the next 10 years.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury said the government would immediately embark on a plan in a bid to reach an agreement with the EU by summer. 

AMMAN — While the overall number of students using drugs is not high, the phenomenon of drug abuse has been on the rise, according to a study.

Citing a recent survey by the University of Jordan (UJ), Jordan Anti-Drugs Society (JADS) President Musa Dawood said that around 450 students were known to be drug abusers in 2015, recording a 20 per cent increase over three years.

The findings also indicated that 3 per cent of UJ students admitted to having used various types of drugs.

In the general picture, Dawood said, the rate of drug use among students has witnessed an increase over the past 10 years and although the figure might not be alarmingly high to some, “every person counts”.

“It doesn’t matter how many students do drugs. As long as one person has a problem, it means the problem exists and authorities have to find a solution to it,” he said. 

The activist stressed the importance of dealing with cases instead of merely locating the issue and evaluating statistics, which, he said, show that Jordan has a “serious” issue as the rate of drug use stands at 2.4 per cent in schools. 

 “The first step to fighting this phenomenon would be acknowledging its existence in our society,” he noted.

The JADS president suggested including more material on the consequences of drug use in the curricula in both schools and universities around the Kingdom, as well as activating existing strategies. 

“More messages on the consequences of drug use should be conveyed to students from the seventh to 12th grades, in order to immunise them before joining colleges, where they might experience temptation,” he said. 

The drug problem is not limited to students, but is rather a nationwide problem, where the percentage of drug abusers equals that recorded among school and university students.

The school or university itself is insignificant as a factor that would encourage resort to drugs, according to Dawood.

However, some students doubted that the rate of drug use recorded in the UJ survey was accurate, since some faculty members told students that they were required to write their university numbers on their survey responses, leaving no assurance of anonymity. 

UJ President Ekhleif Tarawneh told The Jordan Times that in all cases, the study findings alert the university to the need for conducting deeper studies on each of the issues fathomed in the landmark survey, which covered all the students registered in the current semester, totalling more than 37,000.

He noted that the university is to continue its cooperation with JADS to spread awareness among young citizens.

The strategy to be followed includes extracurricular activities and lectures to educate students on this issue, along with other events regarding drug abuse that will be held on campus as community service, according to Tarawneh.

AMMAN — The Private School Owners Association has filed a lawsuit against the government to challenge a by-law on the establishment and licensing of private and foreign educational institutions.

"First of all, the private schools association was not engaged, nor consulted during the drafting of the by-law. This is against all talk about the government's commitment to cooperating with the private sector," Private School Owners Association President Munther Sourani told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

The by-law, which was approved by the Cabinet last December, includes provisions related to the physical environment at schools, the number of students and school yards.

Under the regulations, which went into effect this year, private schools are required to address any violation related to their buildings, including the need to vacate premises that are deemed residential and the need to have indoor yards.

Moreover, schools should calculate the number of students they are allowed to accept based on their area in square metres, to make sure that each student has a one-square-metre area in the classroom and two square metres in the yard.

While the Education Ministry insists that these moves are "necessary" to regulate the sector and ensure the quality of education, private schools, some of which have been operating for more than 30 years, describe them as "unfair".

Sourani noted that the by-law would "prompt many schools to shut down after losing around 70,000 students and 12,000 staff members".

He said all the Kingdom's private schools are legal and licensed, but the new system is standing in the way of renewing their licences.

"Authorities have licensed these schools and allowed them to operate for a long time without having indoor yards or forcing them to limit the number of students according to their size." There are currently 600,000 private school students in Jordan, noted Sourani.

According to last year's figures, 2,708 schools out of the total 6,614 schools in Jordan are private, employing 34,641 teachers.

Jordan Teachers Association Spokesperson Ayman Okour said the syndicate "fully stands with private schools", which he said "bear a huge burden along with the Education Ministry".

"The government did not give private schools enough time to rectify their situation. Add to that the fact that public schools are not perfect themselves and far from equipped to meet the needs of students," he told The Jordan Times.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat has said on several occasions that the by-law provides an "overall framework for private schools and it also focuses on the quality of education at these institutions".

In previous remarks, he said that it was time to regulate and control the quality of education at private schools, noting that there is a "big difference between investing in private education for the public's sake and doing so for profit".

Thneibat also said that only 180 private schools out of 500 in Amman have not violated regulations.

In addition, he noted that the number of students at some schools exceeds the figure stipulated in their licences.

AMMAN — The similarities between Jordan and Hungary should catalyse further cooperation, especially in starting new mutual investments, said Hungarian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade László Szabó.

In an exclusive interview with The Jordan Times on Wednesday, the official highlighted the need for implementing business ideas for prospective projects discussed Tuesday evening at a joint business forum, describing the meeting as "very successful".

Szabó is chairing a delegation of officials and private sector representatives visiting the Kingdom to take part in the second meeting of the Hungarian-Jordanian Joint Economic Commission. 

The meeting, attended by a group of Jordanian officials and co-chaired by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation's secretary general, Saleh Kharabsheh, seeks to evaluate joint work in all fields of bilateral cooperation over the past year-and-a-half since the creation of the commission. 

"We have identified a few areas for cooperation… such as education, water management and energy," Szabó said, suggesting nuclear physics and nuclear technology as majors that Jordanian students can study in English at Hungarian universities through 400 fully-covered scholarships annually.

The Hungarian delegation includes representatives of Budapest Waterworks, one of the largest water companies in Eastern Europe, to look for opportunities to collaborate with Jordanian partners regarding drinking water supply, wastewater management and smart water management techniques, the official noted. 

"We know how dear of a treasure water is for Jordan, so we would like to be able to offer our help in this highly technical field," he said on the sidelines of the joint commission's meeting. 

The meeting on Wednesday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission and the Hungarian National Development Agency on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The MoU includes cooperation in building, running and maintaining nuclear research reactors, developing nuclear infrastructure, nuclear waste management and applications of research reactors. 

Another memo was signed for carrying out water management projects, according to the Hungarian official, who expressed his country's readiness to share its experiences in the field with Jordan.

The business forum introduced to Jordanian businesspeople the Hungarian Trade House, where some 4,000 Hungarian companies are offering to partner with Jordanian ones, supported by Hungarian investment promotion agencies.

The business forum, attended by over 120 Jordanian business owners, looked into possibilities for increasing Jordan's exports to Europe by facilitating rules of origin, according to Jamal Fariz, president of the Jordan Europe Business Association.

Commenting in a phone interview with The Jordan Times on the outcomes of the meeting, Fariz expected new partnerships between businesses from the two countries, citing a public and private interest from the Hungarian side. 

Refugee crisis

As a country that has received tens of thousands of war refugees, Hungary sympathises with Jordan's burden of hosting Syrian refugees and translates its support through aid-providing organisations, Szabó noted.

"The Hungarian government is contributing to the cause [in Syria] and we announced in the London donor conference that we will build and maintain a hospital in Syria worth 5 million euros," he said.

He commended the role Jordan played in the donor conference, urging the EU to work towards an on-the-ground solution to the crisis.

The Jordanian-Hungarian joint commission held its inaugural meeting in May 2014 in Budapest, where the two sides agreed to cooperate in business, trade, energy, agriculture, higher education and tourism.

During the meetings in Amman, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury briefed the Hungarian delegation on Jordan's legislative reforms that aim to encourage investments and boost transparency and anti-graft efforts, according to a ministry statement.

He also reviewed the Jordan 2025 vision and the executive development programme for the years 2016-2018 and the government development programme, which aim to enhance growth rates and establish job-generating projects across the country.

For her part, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Ali highlighted Jordan's keenness on increasing the bilateral trade volume and encouraging investment projects in both countries in light of economic reforms and free trade agreements.

A Trade Ministry statement quoted Ali as saying that Jordan's exports to Hungary reached $3.3 million last year, while imports were around $34.4 million, describing the export volume as "below ambitions".

Agriculture Minister Akef Zu'bi also met with Szabó and discussed cooperation in the field of scientific research on producing vegetables, corn and corn oil, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — Higher Education Accreditation Commission President Bashir Zu’bi on Wednesday discussed cooperation with Osama Fezzani, director of the Libyan National Centre for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Educational and Training Institutes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Zu’bi explained the accreditation measures of the commission. For his part, Fezzani stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation and exchanging expertise. 

AMMAN — Authorities have unveiled four major violations on water resources in west Amman’s Wadi Al Seer, where suspects dug illegal wells inside their houses and an auto repair shop.

The suspects sold the stolen water to the public, an official at the Water Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday, noting that the water is unfit for human consumption.

“The four violations were discovered on Tuesday in Wadi Al Seer. The ministry and a security convoy of eight armoured vehicles raided the locations after obtaining search warrants from west Amman’s prosecutor general,” the official told The Jordan Times.

The first violation entailed drilling a well in a room inside the house, constructing a cement trench that channels 200 cubic metres of water per hour into a sealed pool adjacent to the house and constructing a pipeline to fill the stolen water into tankers.

Authorities sealed the well and referred the case’s legal documents to the prosecutor to arrest the violator.

In another house in Wadi Al Seer, authorities also sealed two wells, the official said, noting that one of the wells was drilled inside the house while the other was in the garden.

“The violator extracted water using submersible pumps and filled tankers via 200-metre-long pipelines,” the official said, highlighting that the wells have also been sealed.

Meanwhile, at an adjacent location, authorities also discovered an illegal well at a car oil change station.

The well was drilled in the trench used for changing cars’ oil, according to the official, who noted that after inspection, authorities found that the stolen water was being pumped via pipelines extended beneath the facility.

“The suspect was arrested on Wednesday morning and is being interrogated,” the official said.

Under the fourth violation, also in Wadi Al Seer, the violator directed water from a spring via a sealed water canal, which channelled the water into a covered pool inside his house, the official said.

Also on Tuesday morning, the ministry and security authorities confiscated a drilling rig in Ramtha, some 90km north of Amman, and sealed the well.

“The equipment was confiscated, while investigation is under way to locate the owner of the land and those involved in the illegal action,” the official said.

The ministry banned the drilling of wells in 1997 to limit random pumping of water and preserve aquifers from depletion and salinity.

Water theft in Jordan is blamed for 70 per cent of water loss, according to the ministry, which seeks to save an estimated 35-50 million cubic metres of water stolen or wasted via illegal fixtures and the drilling of illegal wells.

The amended Water Authority of Jordan Law stipulates stiffer penalties against those who abuse any element of the water system.

Those who abuse water carriers and mains, wastewater, pumping, purification or desalination stations; or cause the pollution of water resources, pipes or stations used for drinking water; and dig or are involved in the digging of wells without obtaining a licence, face a prison sentence of up to five years and fines up to JD7,000.

In addition, violators of water and wastewater projects are jailed for up to three years and fined up to JD5,000, under the law.

All penalties are doubled in the case of repeat offences.

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation (SSC) on Wednesday launched its communications strategy for 2016-2020, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the launch ceremony, SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi said the strategy focuses on the importance of disseminating information on the SSC’s activities and raising awareness of the importance of insurance coverage.

AMMAN — As Jordan this year marks the centennial of the Great Arab Revolt, a series of activities, performances, youth camps and even digital games will be launched as of the end of this month to celebrate the anniversary, according to the King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD).

A bus with pictures depicting the Great Arab Revolt will tour the country’s governorates and hold performances highlighting the values and principles of the revolt, such as dignity, Arab renaissance and independence, KAFD Director Saeb Al Hassan told The Jordan Times in an interview this week.

“The bus will tour villages, cities and towns across the country and gifts will be distributed to children where the performances will be held,” he said, adding that the tours will start in early April.

KAFD, in collaboration with the Gaming Lab, has also developed a digital game with a Great Arab Revolt theme that will be launched at the end of this month, according to Hassan.

“Players will be asked several questions on the Great Arab Revolt and the more correct answers they get, the more points they will earn. Those with high scores and points will get several rewards. The idea is to teach the principles and values of the revolt through edutainment,” he explained. 

More than 300 young Jordanians will also take part in six youth camps that KAFD will hold throughout the year. Participants will follow the track of the Great Arab Revolt, which was led by Sharif Hussein Bin Ali against Ottoman rule, starting from the south of the Kingdom to the northern region, Hassan said.

In addition, dialogue sessions on the values and principles of the Great Arab Revolt will be held throughout the year across 800 of the country’s schools, he noted.

KAFD will also invite applications to implement projects that fall in line with the values and principles of the 1916 Revolt under some of its programmes that extend support to individuals with ideas to serve their communities, Hassan added.

The We Are All Jordan Youth Commission, which is an affiliate of KAFD, will also conduct a series of activities and sessions on the Great Arab Revolt, he said.