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Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) His Majesty King Abdullah II stressed the need for an urgent and radical plan to boost comprehensive and sustainable development in the governorates and ensure fair distribution of gains and job opportunities for citizens.

His Majesty directed the government to prepare an action plan for the development of the governorates in partnership with civil society organizations, the private sector and specialists in the field of development and include this action plan in the state budget for the next three years.

Presiding over a meeting on Wednesday to look at the government's efforts in the implementation of a Governorates Development Fund initiative, King Abdullah said promoting social equality and fair distribution of development between the governorates "constitute one of the pillars of our overall reform drive." The King stressed during the meeting, attended by the prime minister and ministers as well as concerned officials, the importance of taking advantage of grants provided to the Kingdom, to speed up the implementation of capital projects that are a priority and improve infrastructure in the governorates.

He also called for developing a strategy for identifying the industrial requirements of industrial zones and link them to the needs of countries interested in investing in Jordan.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour highlighted a number of challenges facing development in the governorates, most notably weak industrial infrastructure, noting that the government has recently decided to establish at least one industrial zone in each governorate.

He pointed out that the first industrial city and a free trade zone will be established in the city of Jerash on an area of 800 donums to provide services to local and foreign investors.