Abdullah II Stresses the Need to Face Economic Challenges

His Majesty King Abdullah II stressed the need to work seriously to face economic challenges, attract investments and provide job opportunities because it is the national responsibility of all at the public and private sectors. Chairing a meeting to discuss ways to overcome obstacles facing business and investment sectors in the Kingdom, in the presence of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II, the King reiterated that the "private sector is one of the main pillars of our economy, has an essential role in providing job opportunities for our children and the government must keep supporting it.

"His Majesty called for hard work to come up with a clear mechanism to improve business environment, facilitate investments and follow up its work. The King pointed to the gap between investment laws and implementation on the ground, which has a negative effect on the business environment. "This has led to a decline in the ability to attract investments which are the most important source of employment for Jordanians and economic growth," the King said. His Majesty pointed to the decline of the country's indices in the international business and investment reports, affirming that this requires efforts by all to improve the investment environment and pay attention to the challenges and obstacles facing these investments.

The King cited a number of investment projects which were disrupted in recent years due to procedural hurdles, and in turn led to the cancelation of 700 job opportunities in one project. "This means that 700 families were denied a fixed income," His Majesty said, pointing out that there are other disrupted investments that will provide, if implemented, thousands of opportunities for Jordanian youths. His Majesty stressed the need to activate the single window to streamline investments and intensify efforts to overcome poor coordination and follow up among concerned departments and duplication in decision making.

The King pointed out that governments achieved several investment windows over the past years, but these windows were not completely activated "and this is unacceptable." His Majesty directed the government to help the private sector to overcome hurdles, because this sector is the main partner in the economic reform process which is the key to tackle poverty and unemployment. The King reiterated the need to focus on forming partnerships between Jordanian and foreign investors and benefit from the development areas and the location of Aqaba as a gate to access African and Middle Eastern markets.