King Abdullah II, of Jordan said Thursday his country needs a clear-cut strategy to achieve sustainable socio-economic development and address the current multiple challenges.
“Such strategy should be the basis to press ahead with achieving security and prosperity for the country’s citizens,” Petra News Agency quoted the king as saying during his meeting at al Husseiniyeh Palace with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and economic leaders.
“The Kingdom is facing enormous and multiple economic and security challenges at more than one front,” he stressed.
The country’s economy and future security, he said, are inextricably linked, but he stressed that the economy, mainly poverty and unemployment, is the paramount concern.
He told the meeting, which convened to air various views on a ten-year economic blueprint he had asked the government to draw up in a partnership with various organizations, that regional turmoil had placed serious pressures on the Kingdom’s limited resources.
The turbulence in the region, he said, had adversely affected the Jordanian private sector and unveiled weaknesses in the national economy that should be overcome in the future.
King Abdullah called for a Public-Private Partnership and cooperation to develop the 10-year economic plan, while urging the government to encourage investors and Arab and foreign businessmen to invest in the Kingdom.
For the economic blueprint to succeed, Jordanians must believe in it, His Majesty said, while noting that the plan must be drafted in partnership between the Government, the private sector and the civil society organizations.
The King listened to the economists’ points of view on the various economic and social challenges facing the national economy, according to Petra. Meanwhile, the King underlined the importance of following up on the private sector’s points of view in order for the economic plan to address all challenges facing the economy.
Source : KUNA Kuwait News agency
