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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The prime minister said he is presenting the government's policy statement guided by the Letter of Designation in which His Majesty King Abdullah II directed the government to launch a comprehensive national awakening that empowers Jordanians to harness their energies and pursue their dreams; and meets their needs through quality services, fair taxation, an agile, efficient government team, and a social safety net that protects the vulnerable.

The King he added, also directed the government to work on a new social contract with the aim of delineating the relationship between citizens and the state based on the constitution and enhances the role of citizens in achieving sustainable development .

Razzaz added that the social contract will lead to comprehensive national awaking as citizenship is based on rights and duties and active participation in production, adding that the role of governments today is achieving comprehensive development in partnership with the Parliament, society institutions and the private sector.

The government, he added has the duty of providing education, health and social services, and training the youth to become productive citizens.

"The public money used in providing these services is the money of the people, the citizens' money and the main partner in this social contract is the citizen". Therefore, one of the most important elements of the social contract is commitment to transparency, openness and clarity, and informing citizens about everything related to their affairs.

We are passing through an exceptional case, imposed by exceptional circumstances that requires exceptional solutions, I do not say magic solutions that address all these challenges overnight. Rather, I mean gradual solutions linked to a clear timetable, through which we can enhance our national economy and increase its ability to develop, to improve people's standard of living.

Major guidelines inspired by the "Letter of Designation", address people's concerns, can be summarized in the following axes: Rule of law and fight corruption, addressing poverty and unemployment, promoting equal access to opportunities, encouraging domestic and foreign investment, controlling production costs, political, financial and administrative reform, upgrading educational, health, transport and water services, commitment to national security and constants as well as supporting our armed forces and our security apparatus.

Far from the list of wishes and big hopes, we set specific, achievable and measurable goals that will be negotiated with your chamber.

Firstly, the rule of law and fight corruption, which are citizens main concerns, in this regard, Razzaz 'said the government is committed to paying this file great importance and fighting this scourge in all its administrative and financial aspects.

The government will develop a set of laws and regulations to combat and address the roots of corruption, including Access to Information Law, and Illicit Gains Law.

The government is also committed to providing an electronic platform to receive complaints from citizens that protects those who provide reliable and documented information of value to the concerned authorities. "Character assassination is not acceptable, and there is no immunity for the corrupt," Razzaz stressed .

On the rule of law, the government stresses commitment to the contents of the "Sixth Royal Discussion Paper", which bolsters the concept of the rule of law as the basis of a modern civil state. The government also is committed to supporting and respecting judicial independence and to providing a modern and developed institutional environment for the judiciary and its bodies.

On poverty and unemployment and ensuring equal access to opportunities, in this regard, the government is committed to implementing outputs of the "National Human Resource Development Strategy" and launching programs that qualify the unemployed, mainly youth, to make them active partners in development.

The government is also committed to expanding the social safety network, raising the number of families benefiting from social security programs, based on the principles of social justice aiming to empower families and supporting small income-generating projects, providing job opportunities, and the distribution of the tax burden away from the poor and marginalized groups.

"No doubt, sectors such as agriculture, tourism, medical tourism, construction, health services, information technology, business services and manufacturing industries, support the national economy and therefore, must be given due attention and obstacles facing them must be removed" he said.

In the tourism and medical tourism sector, the government will implement several programs and projects aimed at increasing the contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and enhancing the Kingdom's presence on the regional and international tourism map.

In agriculture, he said, the government is aware of the hardships facing the sector as a result of the regional situation, the border closures and the limited markets for exports. The government pledges to give this sector the importance it deserves, and will draft a comprehensive plan to increase the contribution of the agricultural sector to support the national economy.

In the Letter of Designation, His Majesty urged the continuation of the political reform process, building on what has been achieved in previous years, reviewing the legislation regulating political life, enhancing the role of the parties, supporting governorate and municipal councils and enabling them to carry out their duties in the service of the country and the citizen.Therefore, the government pledges to open a serious and meaningful dialogue, through which we will come up with a plan to implement the Jordanian democratic model set forth in the seven Royal discussion papers, leading to parliamentary and partisan governments that work to promote our democratic process.

The prime minister said that the government will make a comprehensive review of decentralization, to identify the advantages and enhance them, and to overcome the challenges facing the work of the governorates councils, within the framework of the development priorities, in order to improve the experience and ensure that it will reflect the level of services provided to citizens.

The government, he added, is also determined to improve the performance of official media institutions and enhance their role in serving the country and the citizen, and monitoring the performance of institutions.

The government will also commit itself to creating an appropriate atmosphere for media freedoms, while emphasizing the need to respect the values of responsible freedom, respect for opinion and counter opinion, avoiding insult and defamation, respect for the right to access to information and the necessary amendments to legislation governing the media sector.

These, he added will enhance the role of the media in protecting society, enhancing the level of awareness among individuals, instilling the values of love and tolerance, and strengthening the image of Jordan as an incubator for culture, art and creativity.

On financial reforms, Razzaz said the government will revisit the tax system, and distribute this burden in a fair manner.

The government, he said will continue these financial reforms and will develop a national program for financial and economic reforms in the short, medium and long terms, stressing that this trend is a higher national interest.

On administrative reforms, the prime minister, said an objective study should be conducted to restructure the ministries, official institutions and government departments, with the aim of improving their efficiency, and giving the minister the necessary powers to manage them.

On the education sector, the government will seek to provide a real alternative, serving the middle and low income classes, by providing a safe school environment and a stimulating teacher, and a qualitative education that keeps pace with the technological development and information revolution.

In the area of health care, he said the government will seek to put a fair health insurance system and ensure equitable distribution of health services.

In the transportation sector, the government will seek to develop an efficient public transport system to reduce traffic congestion, provide transportation services to individuals and will continue to implement major transport projects.

In the water sector, the government will continue its programs to achieve water security, protect water resources from attacks, tighten control over them, and achieve justice in distribution by improving water supply to areas that face this problem.