Economic Update: A Royal Vision for Jordan’s Future

Economic modernization … Royal vision foresees the future of the Jordanian economy
Amman – Jordan – Private
The royal message on January 30, 2022, in which His Majesty King Abdullah II announced the implementation of a plan for economic modernization, was clear, direct and unambiguous and implementable within 10 years.
“We want a future where we regain our lead in education, advance our economy, increase the capabilities and effectiveness of our public sector, prosper our private sector, increase opportunities at an equal level, confront poverty and unemployment with determination, and our youth embark on the horizons of entrepreneurship and innovation,” His Majesty said.
A royal message announcing the establishment of a working cell that includes experts, specialists, academics, businessmen, youth and entrepreneurs, to launch the vision of economic modernization, which will include a document of construction and modernization in front of the various economic sectors for a decade, with political support at the highest levels to move forward in implementing the axes of the vision.
The vision seeks to meet the ambition of individuals in society, by doubling the available job opportunities, expanding the middle class and raising the standard of living to ensure a better quality of life for the citizen, by providing areas for work, in light of the high unemployment rates as an ambitious, realistic and implementable vision with the participation of the public and private sectors and civil society institutions.
The vision also sought the importance of focusing on sectors with a competitive advantage in the national economy, which lead the “locomotive” of development in general and growth in particular, and aims to organize existing job opportunities and generate new opportunities during the next decade.
Interest and ownership participation in the work and workshops of meetings
Perhaps the most characteristic of the workshops, working sessions and meetings of the participants to discuss the economic vision is the royal interest and continuous follow-up by His Majesty personally and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hussein to the outputs of the workshops that were held at the Royal Hashemite Court (House of Jordanians), which confirms the royal interest in the rapid implementation of the outputs of the economic vision.
The government also under royal directives was present and accompanying the various workshops and meetings if the members of the committee gathered with experience and specialization in our economic sectors, and in cooperation with the government “the majority of the members of the Council of Ministers”, to develop a comprehensive vision and a solid roadmap for the coming years, ensuring the release of potential, to achieve sustainable inclusive growth.
Beginning to form the vision and the entanglement of ideas “a better future”
The workshops and meetings of the participants in the economic modernization plans were based on the main slogan in front of them, which is “a better future”, where the axes of the vision were comprehensive, mainly consistent with the letters of high assignment of successive governments to continue to build on what their predecessors have achieved, and the achievement continues and its fruits are achieved.
The vision is that Jordan will achieve qualitative leaps in economic growth and job creation over the next decade, with the continuous growth of net income of individuals, and the improvement of the quality of life significantly.
Government retreats to enhance achievement and discuss outputs
The Dead Sea retreats, which were held from time to time, focused on developing axes and action plans for the economic vision, which was represented in discussing the axis of leadership and creativity, high-value industries, sustainable resources, the engine of quality of life, Jordan as a global destination, future services, the engine of investment, a sustainable environment, which was sponsored by His Majesty King Abdullah II until the outputs of the vision of economic modernization, emanating from the outputs of the national economic workshop, were launched.
The outcomes of the workshop came after discussions in which more than 500 participants, including specialists, stakeholders, experts, representatives of the public and private sectors, parliament, and civil society institutions, participated over several months to comprehensively modernize the economic and administrative tracks.
The vision, which will be implemented in three phases over a period of ten years, includes 366 initiatives in various sectors, and falls under eight engines focused on unlocking the full potential of economic and generating employment opportunities.
Achieving the vision requires attracting investments and financing of about 41 billion dinars over the ten years, the vast majority of which is expected to attract from the private sector, including foreign direct investment and public-private partnership projects.
Priorities and outputs of economic modernization in 6 months
On the ground, the government, in partnership with various sectors, announced the implementation of a number of achievements within the axes and vision of economic modernization plans, which included many economic and development sectors within the first half of this year 2024.
In the environmental sector, the executive program of the vision identified eleven priorities for the Ministry of Environment within the vision of economic modernization, including improving Jordan’s ranking in international reports, developing policies and stimulating the transition towards a green economy in various economic and social sectors, and environmentally sound waste management.
As for the cybersecurity sector, projects have been implemented aimed at procuring technological tools and systems for government institutions to enhance the capabilities of accurate investigation, early detection and effective response to cyber incidents, and projects have been implemented to manage and build national cyber capabilities and protect them from the risk of disruption through the cybersecurity governance program at the national level, in addition to starting the implementation of a project to train national institutions on the national cybersecurity framework, its controls and standards, which targets 100 government institutions.
In the urban development sector, one of the most prominent details of the progress of work in the urban development sector was the project to update the master plan for land use in Aqaba 2022-2040 in line with the green growth approach and smart cities, work was done to prepare and prepare a strategic environmental impact assessment, where current environmental data was collected and analyzed and the potential impacts of future projects on the local environment were assessed.
In the logistics and transport sector, a proposed project study for the application of the toll paid roads system was completed, and the Amman Development Road / Phase I was chosen to be applied to it, where the engineering services agreement related to the project consultant was signed, and the engineering services agreement was signed and he started his work, in addition to implementing a solar energy project with a capacity of (4.8) MW inside Queen Alia International Airport, through the signing of the network interconnection agreement with the National Electric Power Company, and work is underway On the main control room, the new Amman Customs Center was opened in the Madona area, southeast of the capital, under the patronage of the High King, which will contribute to facilitating the procedures provided and reducing the time of clearing goods, thus reducing import and export costs.
In the higher education sector, the implementation of the Kingdom’s project for health care and medical education has been completed, the final license for the establishment of the Kingdom University for Medical Sciences has been granted, the final design of the project has been completed, and the initial approval for the establishment of a teaching hospital with a capacity of 330 beds has been granted.
In the education sector, work has been done to reform the educational curricula for the basic and secondary frameworks, and to complete the review and amendment of the general framework of the Jordanian curriculum, as well as to reform the high school exam, and work to switch from paper exams to electronic, and the completion of the establishment of a specialized examination center in the center of the Ministry of Education.
In the energy and minerals sectors, the Jordan Green Ammonia Company has completed preliminary technical and economic studies for the establishment of a green ammonia and hydrogen production plant in Aqaba, in accordance with the provisions of the memorandum of understanding signed with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, and the law amending the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Law was issued, in light of which a system was prepared (regulating the connection of renewable energy sources facilities to the electrical system, exempting renewable energy source systems and rationalizing energy consumption) and proceed with the procedures for its approval as appropriate.
The tender for the lease of the floating liquefied gas vessel (BW Everett) in the Gulf of Aqaba was also referred to the tenderer bw lng for a period of 10 years lease-to-own, as the rental of this floating vessel comes as an alternative to the current vessel for the purposes of storing liquefied natural gas and pumping it to the offshore gasification unit when needed.
In the health care sector, the list of health sites that will be computerized during the current year has been approved, and the detailed plan for implementation, which are: 2 hospitals, 36 health centers, 4 specialized health centers, 2 expansions.
In the medical tourism strategy, work continues to adopt the final version of the National Medical Tourism Strategy (2023-2027) and its implementation plan, in preparation for its launch, as part of efforts to promote the medical tourism sector in Jordan.
Perhaps one of the most prominent achievements in the film production sector during the first half of 2024 is the establishment of the Jordan Film Academy in cooperation between the Royal Film Commission and the German Jordanian University, which aims to promote the field of filmmaking, contribute to the development of film culture in the Kingdom and develop training programs to enable all groups in society to make films.