To Nader Dahabi
In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate,
Dear Brother,
May God protect you,
Greetings,
It is our pleasure to send you an Arab Hashemite greeting with our feelings of friendship, respect and appreciation.
I have known you to be a loyal Jordanian who belongs to his homeland and nation, working honestly and devotedly for Jordan's greater good. You are known for your efficiency, and the ability to translate our vision of Jordan's future into plans to realise its prosperity and glory, always guided by the principle of service to the homeland and its citizens.
We accepted the resignation of Dr. Marouf Bakhit's government after it fulfilled its mandate and shouldered its national responsibilities diligently and honestly. Because of what we know of your experience in different areas, especially the economic ones, we designate you to form and head a new government that will build on the achievements realised, and uphold national duties and obligations delegated to it by the Constitution and existing legislation.
Since the coming stage is full of challenges is rather essential and important in the history of Jordan, our most basic preoccupation must be with economic and social affairs. We assert our determination to continue with political reform, enhance participation and develop party affiliation, guided by the principles agreed upon in the National Agenda Committee and the We Are All Jordan Forum.
Economic and social priorities are complementary. So, realising a sustainable growth rate, enhancing the competitiveness of our national economy, allowing the private sector to work and to invest in an environment of real and effective partnership with the government to increase productivity and create job opportunities for Jordanians, men and women, are all basic requirements of security and social stability in its broadest sense.
In this area, we are concerned to see the social safety net covering the fields of education, health and housing, as well as an improvement in the salaries of employees in the public sector and members of the armed forces and the security institutions.
And in this respect, we emphasise the importance of studying tying salaries to inflation rates and productivity and performance indicators for the purpose of protecting limited- and low-income citizens. It is also essential to entrench the principles of equal opportunity and merit, and to review the mechanism of social support to establish the principle of extending support to those who deserve it.
We emphasise that providing healthy, proper housing to Jordanian citizens is an integral part of the social safety net and is a goal to which we aspire. Hence, the government should accelerate the implementation of current housing projects, especially those designated for teachers, military personnel and public sector employees and the Housing City of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in Zarqa, to expand the base of homeowners.
We also emphasise the need to expand the health insurance umbrella to include all citizens, and accelerate the construction of hospitals and health centres throughout the country, and to ensure that they are staffed with the necessary qualified technical personnel. We must also enhance monitoring of the quality of food products, drugs and water to ensure citizens' health and safety.
The Jordanian citizen has always been, over the span of our pioneering developmental course, the most important object in the process of modernisation and development, and the main driver of change and progress. Enabling citizens to acquire knowledge is imperative to realising our vision for Jordan's future.
The educational process has been, and remains, one of the most important sources of knowledge-building for Jordanians and is a basic factor in boosting productivity. Our strategic vision for education calls for intensifying efforts and working in a team spirit. In this regard we emphasise the need to implement new programmes to develop education and students' intellectual capacity; and to improve the quality of education outcomes.
For this purpose, we will form, in the next few days, a specialised royal advisory commission to provide the institutions that supervise general education with ideas, plans and suggestions, to guide the development of education policies – especially the development of curricula, teaching methods, teacher training and the development of the students intellectual structure – in order to provide the higher education and vocational training sectors with quality education inputs that qualify them for competitiveness, innovation, excellence and compliance with the requirements and needs of the job market.
As for youth, we have always been keen to support them by empowering them, urging their innovative abilities and encouraging their participation in public life. We emphasise that they should be cared for through direct and continuous outreach, sponsorship of young leaders and training so that they are qualified to assume responsibilities in various national institutions and to articulate a serious, mature youth identity able to take initiative.
Our Brother,
The scarcity of natural resources, especially energy and water resources, is the major challenge to sustainable development. We deem it necessary to work on ensuring energy security by efficiently utilising energy resources, searching for new sources of renewable and alternative energy and supporting all efforts to accelerate the realisation of the atomic energy programme for peaceful purposes.
With regard to water security, we emphasise the need to carry out existing water resource development projects, provide new sources, and use unconventional means to tap water sources, such as building more dams and expanding water harvesting and water desalinisation projects.
The financing of these national priorities requires our commitment to a medium-term financial framework for the general budget, to attain budgets that are results oriented, within a strategic, integrated perspective that fulfils citizens' needs for basic services, and guarantees better debt management, the alleviation of the debt burden and the utilisation of the available financial policy tools to strike a balance between development requirements and limiting the rise of prices.
Our Brother,
Because justice is the basis of governance and the arbiter of duties and rights, the judiciary will always remain as the guarantor against malpractice. Hence, it is important to implement the national strategy for the development of the judiciary in coordination with the Judicial Council in order to guarantee the judiciary's independence and integrity and entrench the principles of the rule of law and equal opportunity. Along with that, corruption of every form must be confronted by entrenching the principles of transparency and accountability and supporting the Anti-Corruption Commission in its efforts to realise these goals.
As we have asserted on several occasions, press freedom is protected. It is subject only to the rule of law and professional ethics, and because we believe that the official media is state media, the homeland's mirror and the citizens' eye on the truth, the government is required to devise and execute plans to develop the official media, and provide official media institutions with qualified and experienced people and modern equipment, so that they are enabled to present the truth, monitor realities and work in a spirit of professionalism and objectivity. The media should be encouraged to play an effective role in social and political mobility.
Realising these visions and programmes requires a number of reforms in the legislative environment. Hence the government should work in complete partnership with the two Houses of Parliament, for the purpose of formulating the legislation necessary to translate vision into reality.
The achievements of our homeland, and the security and stability we enjoy, would not have been possible without the efficiency of our brave armed forces and security institutions; and so we emphasise the importance of giving them the attention and support they deserve to preserve their preparedness and the efficient and competent execution of their duties. We also emphasise the importance of improving the standard of living of their members, who keep watch over the security of our citizens and homeland.
Our internal unity and strength require maximising what brings people together and overstepping whatever keeps them apart. All share this homeland, which was built on love and brotherhood, as equal partners. All contribute to entrenching our common living. They advance in status in accordance with their loyalty to the homeland, their dedication and their achievement. The national identity that unites us does not accept fragmentation.
The government therefore is called upon to strive for social justice, equality and the rule of law in an organised, methodological manner in all state affairs; to emphasise moderation, tolerance in order to fight extremism and fanaticism; and to entrench the principles included in the Amman Message as a way of life.
On the Arab scene, great missions await you. Primary among them is enhancing Jordan's relations with its Arab brethren. We are keen to have strategic relations that help unify Arab stances in facing our current challenges – at the forefront of which is the Palestinian issue. This is at the centre of our concerns and Arab priorities. Your mission in that regard should focus on utilising Jordan's Arab relations and its national capabilities to help the Palestinian people to attain and establish a viable, independent state on Palestinian national soil.
We emphasise the need to provide all manner of support to protect the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem which have been entrusted to our care. We will fulfill this promise, protecting and caring for them against any attempt to obliterate their Arab or Islamic identity.
We also emphasise the importance of enhancing, entrenching and developing Jordan's international and bilateral relations, so that they will benefit Jordan.
In this letter of designation, we sought to clarify our vision and summarise your mission and priorities, although you are not limited to these. We emphasise the importance of hard, loyal work to realise the goals, visions and ideas we have mentioned; to translate them successfully, God willing, into a reality in the life of Jordanians, through plans and work programmes tied to time tables and indicators to measure the government's performance in general and each ministry in particular. We trust in your ability to carry out this mission, and this trust is part and parcel of our keenness to offer support, direction and advice.
As I wait for the nominations of the names of your colleagues in your ministerial team, I ask God Almighty to grant you success and wise judgment in choosing those whose efficiency and ability you trust most to pursue and uphold our vision of the future of modern Jordan, shoulder responsibility and serve our dear people.
May God grant us success.
Peace, God's mercy and His blessings upon you,
Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein
Amman, 22 November 2007
