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AMMAN — HH Prince Mired, chairman of the National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR), on Tuesday received Ali Yang, who was recently appointed as representative of the Commercial Office of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Amman, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. They reviewed the NCDR’s activities.

AMMAN — The government supports the tourism sector to enable it to overcome the negative impact of regional conditions, Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez said Tuesday.

Speaking at a ceremony held by the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association (JITOA), Fayez said JITOA has a big role in ensuring the success of inbound tourism, boosting the national economy and increasing the number of tourists visiting the Kingdom, expecting next year to witness increased tourism activity, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

JITOA Chairman Ghada Najjar said the annual ceremony brings different sector insiders together to discuss mutual challenges, Petra added.

AMMAN — Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Shuichi Sakurai said Wednesday that his country considers Jordan key to the region’s security and stability, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Sakurai made his remarks to Petra on the occasion of Japan’s national day.

The four summits held in one year between His Majesty King Abdullah and the Japanese prime minister, he said, reflect the deep-rooted ties between the two countries. The ambassador said Japan’s exports to Jordan in 2014 are worth around $559 million whereas Jordan’s exports amounted to $41 million.

Sakurai highlighted Japan’s role in achieving peace in the Middle East, voicing hope that a political solution to the Syrian crisis will emerge soon. The ambassador said his country appreciates Jordan’s efforts to host Syrian refugees and is aware of the burden being borne by the Kingdom in this regard.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday congratulated the nation on the occasions of Prophet Mohammad’s birthday and Christmas, calling on both Muslims and Christians to embrace the values of compassion and tolerance shared by the two faiths.

Following is the full text of the King’s address, which was broadcast live on Jordan TV Tuesday night:

In the name of God and praise be to Him; and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad,

My brothers and sisters, my dear sons and daughters,

Peace, God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.

I am delighted to congratulate you all, as we celebrate the birth of our Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and as our Christian brothers and sisters celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. I wish you all and our beloved Jordan many happy returns.

This year, the birthday of our great-grandfather Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, coincides with Christmas. 

We mark these two special occasions while our region faces the most difficult of times. Many of the countries in the Middle East, and indeed the world, suffer from the spread of extremism and violence, and deviation from the true principles and teachings of Islam and Christianity. 

On the eve of these two occasions, we must remember that Islam is a religion of compassion, and that what brings Muslims and Christians together are common values, which are profoundly opposed to the practices of khawarej, the outlaws of Islam.

God says in the Holy Koran: “We did not send you, except as a mercy to all the worlds” [Al Anbiya 21:107].

Let this be a reminder that the mercy of Islam is for all mankind; for it is truly a religion of compassion to all.

As we reflect on this, we thank God that our blessed and giving country has never witnessed division. We all live under the umbrella of equal citizenship that binds us together. We firmly believe that Arab Christians are an integral part of our past, present and future. Ever since the great battle of Mutah, Arab Christians have been an essential partner in building our culture and civilisation and in defending Islam.

Be assured that with our solidarity and determination, we will continue to stand strong and united against the evils of terrorism and extremism which target the entire world. This is the very reason why we ought to be proud of our model of religious harmony ¾ a way of life long embraced by our fathers and forefathers, and one which our next generations must, God willing, continue to protect and cherish.

Wishing you all many happy returns.

Peace, God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Tuesday asserted that the Crown Prince Foundation was established to offer a platform that will support initiatives by Jordanian youths in the social, cultural and know-how fields.  

Chairing the first meeting of the Crown Prince Foundation’s board of trustees, Crown Prince Hussein urged the board members to harness their expertise and experiences in the implementation of the programmes and initiatives the foundation has on the drawing board, a Royal Court statement said.

He underscored the importance of ongoing and periodic reviews of the initiative, using evaluation tools to guarantee optimal utilisation of their outcome.

The Crown Prince and the foundation's board of trustees reviewed new initiatives and the foundation's agenda for next year, according to the statement.

In this context, the foundation announced the launch of an initiative to protect young Jordanians against the dangers of addiction and smoking, along with another initiative on creativity. 

The second initiative is designed to support the country’s economy through providing young Jordanians with jobs after they are trained and encouraged to use their talents. 

At the meeting, Wajih Oweis was unanimously elected as vice chairman of the Crown Prince Foundation. The board members also approved the establishment of  the Prince Hussein Bin Abdullah II Technical University and to proceed with the project.  

A Royal Decree was issued at the beginning of this month naming members of the board of  trustees of the foundation, whose main aim is to achieve across-the-board development in Jordan. 

This will be achieved through providing direct support to local communities and through contributing to scientific, cultural, sport, educational, social, vocational and health activities. 

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, following the meeting, Oweis reiterated that development is a key objective the foundation will work to realise, noting that it is mainly concerned with youths through improving their skills and providing them with jobs to raise their standards of living.   

Regarding the Prince Hussein Bin Abdullah II Technical University, he explained that university programmes seek to ensure that its graduates join the labour market in Jordan and abroad.

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Tuesday received Jordanians with disabilities who made remarkable achievements at international Beirut Marathon, which started on November 8.  

His Highness congratulated Suhail Nashash, Nabil Maqableh and Ali Sawalmeh for the advanced positions they achieved among People with Disabilities (PWD) participating in the thirteenth edition of the silver-labelled international running event. 

Crown Prince Hussein expressed pride in the “distinguished group of young people who were not discouraged or frustrated by their disabilities, thus representing, along with other Jordanian young people, a model in giving and distinction”, and making Jordan proud. 

Crown Prince Hussein stressed his readiness to provide all technical support and training needed to these young men to achieve further success and distinction, and to achieve advanced positions in future sport or athletic contests. 

He stressed the importance of sports for PWD, in particular, as taking part in such competitions enhances their ability to overcome challenges. 

More than 37,000 runners from 17 countries across the world participated in the marathon, including world and Olympic champions. 

The running event has been recently awarded Silver Label status by the International Association of Athletics Federations. 

Nashash won first place in the 42km (run) race for the blind, and is scheduled to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, to be hosted by Rio de Janeiro.

As for Sawalmeh, he won the first place in the 42km wheelchair race, while Maqableh won first place in the 10km race.  

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, following the meeting, the three Jordanian winners expressed their appreciation of HRH Crown Prince Hussein’s gesture.

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday voiced keenness to address the humanitarian suffering in Syria as the UN Security Council renewed a mandate to deliver relief assistance to Syrians across borders with neighbourring countries.   

Since its election as a nonpermanent member at the UNSC, Jordan has attached great importance to the humanitarian conditions in Syria and worked to end the suffering of the Syrian people and to spare the region more repercussions of the crisis, Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dina Kawar said in remarks at the UNSC. 

She added that Jordan worked last year with its partners at the council, Luxembourg and Australia, to implement resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191, concerning sending relief aid, including food items and medical supplies, across the borders from Jordan and Turkey to millions of Syrians rendered vulnerable by the five-year conflict, which has left 250,000 people dead and forced millions to take refuge in other countries. 

In continuation of these efforts, Jordan worked with Spain and New Zealand during the past weeks, consulting with all UN Security Council members, concerned countries and humanitarian agencies to renew the mandate granted by the UN and its executive partners to dispatch humanitarian assistance inside Syria, which expires in the first week of 2016. 

Kawar thanked all council members for their cooperation and flexibility, leading to a unanimous  adoption of the renewal decision.

 She  thanked the Security Council members for their confidence and their close cooperation with Jordan in the past two years, noting that  the council  should continue to work to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially as millions of Syrians are still in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. 

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday said his government's economic policies are focused on curbing expenditure and trimming public debt, increasing revenues, employment and growth as well as attracting investments and developing the governorates. 

Ensour's remarks came during Tuesday's Lower House session dedicated to discussing the government's economic policies.

"Some like to describe the government's endeavour to increase revenues as 'money-collection' whilst it is all meant to protect the country's financial stability," the premier said.

"It is more scientific and a lot better to call this economic policy 'austerity,' which is the same approach adopted by in several countries, including the US."

Acknowledging that his government is not immune against making mistakes and is always open to constructive criticism, Ensour described the government's economic policies as "reform-oriented” plans that have already succeeded in reducing waste of public funds.

He also said that capital spending has increased from JD675 million in 2012 to JD1.1 billion in 2014, leading to increasing the capital projects' share in the gross domestic product from 3.1 per cent in 2012 to 4.5 per cent in 2014.

Aside from non-tax revenues, Ensour said that public revenues have increased within normal levels to go in line with growth and inflation rates. He added that public revenues increased to JD384 million in 2014, or by 9 per cent from the JD300 million collected in 2013.

Ensour also said the government has never used the JD800 million of revenues generated from the tax on fuel derivatives to narrow the budget deficit but has rather directed them towards public spending that serves the middle class.

"Those sceptical of the fuel pricing mechanism should simply look at the audited financial statements of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) to see that the government has achieved no additional profits from refining and selling fuel derivatives other than the contractual JD15 million annually."

MPs have accused the government of overcharging consumers for oil derivatives. 

Head of the House Financial Committee, MP Raed Khalaileh, told The Jordan Times a day earlier that the government adds around $43 to the cost of each imported oil barrel before it starts calculating the final price for end users. 

Commenting on the fact that the public debt increased from JD16.6 billion in 2012 to JD22.6 billion in 2014, Ensour attributed the snowballing debt burden to increases in developmental and capital spending as well as the electricity, water and bread subsidies, which, he remarked, amounted to around JD4.4 billion in the past three years.

AMMAN – The number of Jordanian individuals who borrowed from commercial banks was around 565,000 by the end of last year, according to Adli Kandah, director general of the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ). 

Kandah said loans extended by commercial banks to people to purchase residential apartments reached JD2.7 million in 2014, representing around 10.6 per cent of the gross domestic product, a percentage he described as low when compared with other regional countries such as Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. 

He attributed the trend to the fact that nearly 73 per cent of Jordanian households own their residences. 

Kandah said the volume of housing loans last year grew by only JD100 million from 2013, but indicated that in 2005, the volume of loans for residential apartments was JD744 million. 

Housing loans increased sharply in a decade, he noted. 

In regards to personal loans, ABJ figures show that a total of 165,000 people borrowed from commercial banks last year at a value of JD1.6 billion, while banks extended loans worth JD445 million to 42,000 people to purchase cars. 

Overall value of loans to individuals, housing, cars and personal, reached JD4.75 billion last year, according to ABJ data. 

Kandah said that 80.8 per cent of borrowers were men, and 19.2 per cent women.

Official figures show that the size of the workforce in the Kingdom is estimated at around 1.6 million, which means that 35 per cent of it sought loans from commercial banks in 2014. 

ABJ data also show that banks issued over 159,000 credit cards to individuals last year.

AMMAN — Royal Jordanian (RJ) inaugurates its new direct regular route from Amman to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Jakarta is the fourth new RJ destination in 2015, the airline said in a statement. 

RJ started operating flights to Ankara on December 8, and to Tabuk and Najaf earlier this year.

RJ President/CEO Captain Suleiman Obeidat said reopening theAmman-Jakarta route comes at a time when Indonesia witnesses an "increasingly remarkable air traffic", which is a sign of "economic growth".

RJ operated flights to Jakarta between 1992 and 2002; they were suspended for commercial reasons, the statement said.

Obeidat added that this route "is bound to carry tourists from Jordan and the Levant to Indonesia". It will also transport Indonesian students who study at Jordanian universities.

The route will serve the Indonesian labour force, cargo and business traffic.

Obeidat added that the feasibility studies conducted by RJ showed that this route is important for Haj and umra — the greater and lesser Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca — pilgrims and for transit passengers who come to Amman on their way to other cities.

RJ will operate to Jakarta, via Kuala Lumpur, three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with an estimated 255 million population, of which 10 million live in Jakarta, the statement said. Muslims constitute 87 per cent of the population.

The Indonesian economy is one of the 20 largest worldwide.

Jakarta International Airport serves more than 70 airlines through 42 gates and serves more than 60 million passengers a year, according to RJ.