Ammon News - AMMONNEWS -A breakdown of the Prime Minister's letter to King Abdullah II In response to the directives of His Majesty to the government to draft a 10-year economic blueprint for Jordan Basing the efforts on an assessment of the reality of the challenges facing the national economy:

•Meeting the requirements of energy, water and food security. • The high rate of unemployment, especially among youth.

•The low level of women’s participation in the workforce.

•Discrepancies in the levels of development between governorates .

•The mounting public debt as well as the growing state budget deficit.

•The impact of the difficult regional situation, particularly the Syrian refugee crisis, which poses a burden on Jordanian citizens and the national economy.

Adopting a participatory approach between:
1.Government agencies
2.Parliament
3.The private sector
4.Civil society organisations
5.Other national entities.

Building on former sectorial and national efforts, policies and strategies:
1.The National Integrity Committee report
2. Privatisation Committee report
3.National Recruitment Strategy
4.National Anti-Poverty Strategy
5.Strategies tailored for vital sectors such as energy, agriculture, tourism, transportation and others.
6.The National Agenda
7.A complement the government’s action plan and programmes for the years 2013-2016
8.Alignment with other national fiscal and economic reform programmes.

Capitalising on the relative advantages of certain sectors:
1.Transportation
2.Energy
3.Pharmaceuticals
4.Mining
5.Tourism
6.Education services
7.Information technology
8.Healthcare
9.Design and architecture
10.Consultation services
11.Engineering services
12.Financial and banking services
13.Logistic services. All of which, in order to achieve the following objectives:

•To boost levels of economic growth

•To enhance the business and investment environment and raise its competitiveness to become attractive for local and foreign investment in the various economic sectors.

•To develop economic sectors, encourage market creativity and hone the tools and means of supporting priority and high-value added export-oriented sectors.

•To encourage small and medium-sized businesses.

•To enhance policies related to human resources, link education policies to labour market demands, focus on building a labour force through vocational training.

•To stimulate local and comprehensive development in communities, narrow developmental gaps between governorates.

•To give necessary attention to people with special needs.

What is different and new about this plan?
• Prepare the executive plan of the blueprint before the end of this year.

•Identify the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders, during both the drafting and implementation stages.

•The blueprint will be formulated by technical committees represented by all concerned sectors.
•The practical aspect of the blueprint will entail a three-phase executive programme, extending to 2025, including indicators to measure performance and progress.

•Activating the Unit of Follow-up and Oversight of Government Performance at the Prime Ministry o To oversee all arrangements and proposals entailed in the plan.

•Reports will be published regularly
•Detect any failures in the process
•This process is intended to increase the government’s credibility and people’s confidence in it. •Those who fail to deliver will be held accountable.