Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) - His Majesty King Abdullah II received a delegation on Monday representing the Association of Mediterranean Ombudsmen, which seeks to promote the values of democracy, rule of law and enhance social peace in the Mediterranean region.

His Majesty expressed his appreciation for selecting Jordan as the location for the association's 7th annual conference, entitled "Towards a better treatment of complaints against the administration".

This, he said, is consistent with Jordan's keen interest to enhance justice, the rule of law, and transparency, while developing the integrity system, public performance and continuing Jordan's comprehensive reforms.

At the meeting, which was attended by Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, Director of the King's Office Imad Fakhoury and President of the Ombudsman Bureau Abdul Ilah Al Kurdi, King Abdullah stressed the importance of coordination among ombudsman bureaus in the Mediterranean to improve their performance and to exchange experts and information among them.

Members of the delegation praised the King's efforts to support justice and human rights, in addition to progress made by Jordan in various areas.

They also said they appreciated Jordan's establishing an ombudsman bureau, adding it would enhance the ongoing reforms led by the King.

Representing His Majesty King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour opened the 7th Meeting of the Association of Mediterranean Ombudsmen in Amman on Monday.

Ensour said, in his opening remarks, that the presence of an ombudsman is a necessity for public administration, adding that ombudsman bureaus support both decision makers and those who lodge complaints, when complaints are valid.

"The more citizens' confidence increases in ombudsman bureaus and other control and monitoring departments, the more their confidence increases in the state and its institutions", he said.

Ensour noted that with the development of information and communications technologies, platforms are now available for all members of the public, and each individual has the right to express his opinion and criticize government management and its staff.

"There is an increasing conviction at the international level of the need to enhance good governance that is based on transparency, justice, equality, the rule of law and accountability, he added.

Further, President of the Jordanian Ombudsman Bureau Abdul Ilah Al Kurdi said the bureau was established to put in place His Majesty King Abdullah's vision to have a control and monitoring department to achieve justice, transparency and equality in public administration practices and decisions.

He said the bureau has received 8,000 complaints since its establishment , 88 percent of which were resolved through applying the law.