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AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday discussed in a phone call the developments in the region with US Secretary of State John Kerry, a Royal Court statement said. 

Talks focused on the situation in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

With more Israeli killings of Palestinians, unrest in the occupied Palestinian lands spun further towards a full-scale uprising, reports said Sunday.

Palestinian medical officials said 37 Palestinian protesters were wounded by gunfire from Israeli troops during confrontations on Sunday in the West Bank.

Also on Sunday, King Abdullah left Jordan on a private visit and Prince Feisal was sworn in as Regent. 

AMMAN — Culture Minister Lana Mamkegh and her Armenian counterpart Hasmik Poghosyan on Saturday launched “Jordan’s Cultural Days” in Armenia.

In her opening speech, Mamkegh commended Armenia’s hosting of the event, describing it as the result of comprehensive bilateral cooperation, adding that the activities are an opportunity to present Jordanian culture and art to Armenia, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Poghosyan welcomed Mamkegh and the accompanying delegation, voicing her country’s interest in the Kingdom, its culture and traditions, particularly as both countries have strong historic ties.

Throughout the week-long event, Jordan will showcase performances by the Ramtha Folklore Dance Group, a traditional fashion show by designer Hana Murad Mahani, two photo exhibitions featuring the country’s history, nature and culture by Zohrab and Jihad Jbara, and five Jordanian films that have gained international acclaim.

At the conclusion of the opening ceremony, brochures about tourism in Jordan were distributed in cooperation with the Jordan Tourism Board.

The event is the fruit of an agreement previously signed by the two countries. 

AMMAN — Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) said Sunday it looks to further cooperation with the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) as potential remains high for future investments in the Kingdom.

IFFCO, which owns around 52 per cent of the $860 million Jordan India Fertiliser Company that was inaugurated by His Majesty King Abdullah and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, said it sees “enormous opportunity for further cooperation and partnership” with JPMC, which owns 48 per cent of the facility located in Eshidiya. 

“India is a major consumer of fertilisers and phosphates, but we do not have any phosphate reserves,” US Awasthi, managing director of IFFCO, said. 

“Jordan and the [JPMC] are strategic partners for us... If there is a need for more production in the plant there will be more cooperation between the two sides,” Awasthi said at a press conference.

“Our relationship with Jordan is very valuable,” said the managing director of IFCCO, which groups some 55 million farmers in India.

According to an agreement between IFCCO and JPMC, 70 per cent of the facility’s products will be exported to India, while JPMC has the right to sell the rest to India or any other country.

The factory will use some 2 million tonnes of phosphate ores extracted from the Eshidiya phosphate mines for production, said JPMC Chairman Amer Majali.

The exports of the facility, which has an annual production capacity of about 500,000 tonnes, will reach around $300 million annually, Majali added. 

“This will support the Jordanian economy,” he said.

Majali noted that the steam emitted from the facility after the production process is used to generate an estimated 30 megawatts of electricity. 

AMMAN — The University of Jordan (UJ) on Sunday conferred an honorary doctorate on India’s President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of his contributions to India and world countries.

At a ceremony that was held at the university’s engineering faculty, UJ President Ekhleif Tarawneh said the UJ council of deans decided to confer an honorary doctorate in political science on India’s president, in recognition of his achievements as a “visionary statesman, politician and economist who has rendered great contributions to humanity”.

Underscoring his accomplishments, Tarawneh said the president is known for cultivating tolerance, strengthening Indo-Arab relations and supporting Arab causes, besides spearheading critical decisions to forge unity and foster cooperation. 

The Indian president thanked Jordan and UJ for the honorary degree.

“It is a great privilege,” he said, expressing hope that his visit will help “in strengthening cooperation and forging partnerships” between the two countries. 

The president also delivered a lecture at UJ, highighing the deep ties between his country and Jordan and their growth over the years.

India’s Ambassador to Jordan Anil Trigunayat told The Jordan Times that India has extended a line of credit of $100 million to Jordan for promoting trade and economic cooperation and doubled scholarships for Jordan from 25 to 50.

“We also agreed to work more closely on counterterrorism,” he said on the sidelines of the ceremony at UJ.

The diplomat also extended gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah and to Jordan for supporting India’s bid for a permanent seat in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council.  

“We are grateful to His Majesty King Abdullah and Jordan for extending their fullest support to India’s bid for a permanent seat for a reformed and expanded UNSC, as well as for the UN reforms in general during this 70th anniversary of UN,” he added. 

Zu’bi Al Zu’bi, who is chairman of the UJ business management department, described the Indian president’s visit as a move in the right direction, saying it is pivotal in reducing political dependency on the traditional players in the region. 

Economically speaking, he said Jordan can increase its exports to India, especially natural resources.  

Earlier in the day, an Indian academic delegation, representing leading Indian universities, signed memoranda of understanding with five Jordanian universities. 

They are the UJ, Yarmouk University, Balqa Applied Universiy, Al al Bayt University and Al Isra University, Professor Sudhir K. Sopory, vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University told The Jordan Times.  

“We are looking into some exchange programmes and areas of cooperation,” he noted.  

“We are happy to see that there are closer relations between the Arab world and India,” Talat Ahmad, vice chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia University, commented. 

The academic delegates also included Partha P. Chakrabarti of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Professor M. M. Chaturvedi, director of India’s Cluster Innovation Centre. 

Mukherjee, who is accompanied by government officials and parliament members representing major political parties in India, began his official visit to the Kingdom on Saturday during which he held discussions with King Abdullah that addressed ways to boost economic cooperation and foster Indo-Jordanian coordination in different fields. 

The Indian president is also scheduled to visit the West Bank and Israel. 

Also on Sunday, Mukherjee visited Al Hussein Park, where he planted an olive sapling for world peace.

He was accompanied by Labour Minister Nidal Katamine, Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji and several officials, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The president also inaugurated the Mahatma Gandhi Street in Abdoun. 

Mukherjee thanked Jordanians for their hospitality, commending the Greater Amman Municipality’s decision to name the street after Gandhi, according to Petra.

Later on Sunday, he visited the Citadel archaeological site in Amman’s Jabal Qalaa neighbourhood and was briefed on its history.

AMMAN — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday inaugurated the renovated French Primary School in Amman.

At the ceremony, held in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Mohammad Thneibat and French Ambassador to Jordan Caroline Dumas, Valls expressed keenness on boosting French-Jordanian relations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Thneibat underlined the importance of continuous cooperation between Amman and Paris at all levels especially in the fields of education and training, noting that Jordan believes in children’s right to education and there are students of different nationalities at public schools.

The French Primary School has 299 students in the 2015-16 scholastic year, and its total capacity is around 400 students.

AMMAN — The Irbid Police Department on Sunday implemented a security campaign in the market at the northern bus terminal which resulted in apprehending three wanted suspects and the closing down of seven shops for violations, according to Irbid Governor Saad Shihab.

He added that the campaign was implemented to remove street stalls blocking pavements and streets, after pedestrians and merchants filed several complaints, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — The principal and a teacher at Zaha Iddin Hmoud School in Irbid’s Eidoun District filed a complaint against a student for reportedly assaulting them with a table at the principal’s office, Jordan Teachers Association’s Irbid branch President Qasim Masri said Sunday.

He added that the association is following up on the incident, noting that the educators went to Princess Basma Hospital and received a medical report stating they were attacked with a wooden tool, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Masri said the syndicate branch will hold an emergency session to discuss the incident.

AMMAN — Jordan Chamber of Commerce President Nael Kabariti and Romanian Ambassador to Jordan Bogdan Filip met on Sunday and discussed means to enhance the economic and commercial relations.

Talks focused on the outcomes of the recent visit Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta made to the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Last April, Romania and Jordan marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

AMMAN — Jordanian social media users are responding to recent confrontations between young Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces and settlers by voicing their support for participants in what some of them called “The Third Intifada”.

Users circulated news, photos and videos of Palestinian men and women of all ages resisting Israeli aggression. 

Twitter user Ali (@ANNNNNASs) shared a photo of a child holding a stone while facing Israeli forces, with the caption: “Don’t say these are children, this is the generation of liberation.”

Another user (@BordaneLina) highlighted resistance to occupation as a shared issue among Palestinians, regardless of religion.

“When we are defending our homeland, religions do not separate us, [the] homeland [is] for all and we are all for our homeland,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, several users commented on the outfits of Palestinians involved in the resistance efforts, which were mainly denim trousers and T-shirts, suggesting that the younger generation remained strong in defending their rights despite some “Westernised” habits.

A Facebook user commented: “Even globalisation was not enough to shake the spirit of resistance for the Palestinians.”

The widespread participation of women in the uprisings reminded Rimi Afaneh, a Facebook user, of the role of iconic Palestinian women in previous revolutions, such as Dalal Mughrabi.

“Dalal Mughrabi did not die,” she wrote.

Several users criticised the lack of coverage of the issue in international media outlets, especially the failure of these outlets to highlight video recorded incidents of Israeli forces killing “in cold blood” unarmed Palestinians who were not posing security threats.

Jordan has condemned the recurrent Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians and violations of the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as the killing of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza.

The first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) erupted in 1987 and continued until the early 1990s, while the second one erupted in 2000 and continued until 2005.

AMMAN — Jordan has been able to turn a crisis into an opportunity to ensure its survival amidst a volatile region, according to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury, who highlighted the economic reform steps taken by the Kingdom.

Speaking at a panel discussion late last week at the World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, Fakhoury also outlined the challenges facing the Kingdom.

“Our story is one of resilience and turning challenges into opportunities. With all honesty it was a question of survival, almost of life and death,” a ministry statement quoted him as saying.

“We’re one of the few countries in the Middle East that doesn’t have oil. We imported 96 per cent of our energy. So we started a diversification strategy in 2008. 

“By 2010, we adopted a law in energy efficiency so we set up the framework to implement the strategy. In 2011, the Arab Spring broke out and… Syria turned extremely violent. So we had Syrians moving to Jordan, about 20 per cent of our population. We also lost our gas supply [from Egypt] for electricity,” Fakhoury said at a panel that included public and private experts. 

Discussions focused on renewable energy and the pivotal role private finance can play. The session was moderated by Angus McCrone, chief editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Jordan’s government had to replace gas with diesel at five times the cost, Fakhoury explained. Facing that crisis kicked the country into high gear, he added. 

“The government went straight into a macroeconomic stability programme and made an arrangement with the IMF for a reform programme in the energy sector. We removed all subsidies on fuel products, offered incentives for hybrids and encouraged an aggressive diversifying approach.”

Kicking off the event, the International Finance Corporation’s executive vice president and CEO, Jin-Yong Cai, and Rune Bjerke, CEO of DNB, the largest financial services group in Norway, talked about the state of renewable, according to the statement. 

The money for renewable investments is there, Bjerke said, but he also emphasised that the infrastructure is not. 

“I think we should look more into the distribution systems: how to make the grids more accessible, how to invest in new technologies related to storage, how to take advantage of the tech revolution to put more emphasis to new, green energy sources,” he said.

But if infrastructure takes investment to build, investors want to see infrastructure already in place, according to the statement. 

“For an energy project to succeed on a larger scale, you have to have solid transmission and distribution networks. You have to have reasonable, clear… regulations so people know what they’re getting into,” said Cai. 

Also part of the discussion was Maja Wessels of First Solar — one of the world’s largest solar development companies. 

While solar energy is not expected to immediately power entire countries, she said, rapidly evolving technology — especially in storage — could see this change well before 2040.

Peru’s Minister of Mines and Energy Rosa Maria Ortiz Rios said renewables will play a major role in diversifying the country’s energy generation sources.

The panel agreed that “without renewable energy, we cannot end poverty by 2030”, the statement said.

“Renewable energy is the foundation of a modern economy,” said Cai.