In a ceremony to launch the National Integrity Charter and Executive Plan, His Majesty King Abdullah said on Monday that “The responsibility of implementing this national achievement and translating it into real-life practice is shared by all authorities, private sector institutions, civil society and citizens who should all work to consolidate it as a deep-rooted approach, a life style and a daily practice in public life.”

“To ensure real and concrete results, a committee will be formed in the next stage to evaluate performance and follow up on progress, making sure to acquaint citizens with developments in this regard”, King Abdullah added during the ceremony, in the presence of some 2,000 officials, community leaders and representatives of various sectors.

His Majesty said “the development of the National Integrity System is a cornerstone in realising the White Revolution that we called for and a key step to build on our accumulated achievements, continue enhancing people’s confidence in the state and its institutions, and give citizens peace of mind regarding their children’s future.”

Stressing the significance of the charter in enhancing public life and services offered to citizens, the King said “The consolidation of the principals of integrity as a system into the work of the government, private sector and civil society is a pillar of democratisation and an indicator that reform is a serious and pragmatic process geared towards developing institutional work, preserving public funds and entrenching the principles of good governance, especially with regards to combating all forms of corruption, even before it occurs.”

“It is also an indicator that reform is a serious and pragmatic process geared towards developing institutional work, preserving public funds and entrenching the principles of good governance, especially with regards to combating all forms of corruption, even before it occurs,” His Majesty said.

The development of the charter, the King added, is “a nationwide achievement to address one of the major concerns and challenges facing Jordanians over the past period”.

“Our people present today a unique and inspiring model of an effort achieved with the participation of all components of our society through constructive and meaningful dialogue and respect of others’ opinions,” His Majesty said.

“These constitute the elements of success for a democratisation process, with the central aim of empowering citizens to actively participate in decision making and efforts to advance our precious country and achieve prosperity,” the King added.

“This achievement embodies the ability of Jordanians to face and address changes with a high sense of patriotism and responsibility, relying only on facts and an objective approach.” His Majesty added.

“This is the reason why Jordanians have succeeded in overcoming challenges and achieved excellence and a leadership status. And this is the source of my pride in my people,” His Majesty noted.

At a press conference following the ceremony, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said the charter addresses major public concerns while its executive plan includes a detailed framework to complete a set of projects and laws to boost national integrity and prevent corruption.

He stressed that the follow-up on the implementation of the charter is key to its success as “lack of follow-up will lead to failure”.

In 2012, His Majesty said Jordanians’ trust in state institutions is the cornerstone for the success of reform efforts, and directed the premier to head a Royal committee to reinforce integrity.

The King also chose 11 other key figures to serve as members of the Royal committee, including former Senate president Taher Masri, Judicial Council President Hisham Tal, Khawaldeh, former minister Rajai Muasher, former senator Talal Abu-Ghazaleh and former MP Abla Abu Olbeh.

The charter and the plan were finalised one year after His Majesty formed the panel.

The project went through four stages; during the first stage, the panel held 24 meetings with the chiefs of oversight agencies to examine the challenges they face before it drafted the first version of the National Integrity Charter and Executive Plan.

In the second stage, the committee held 17 meetings to receive feedback from representatives of various sectors and segments of society, incorporating the comments and notes it received into a second version of the two documents, which were later posted on the Prime Ministry website for further comments by the public for one week.

In the final stage, a conference was held at the Dead Sea, where participants were divided into 14 groups to discuss the charter and plan to come up with suggestions for amendments, which were discussed and accepted.

The final version was issued at Monday’s ceremony. The plan comprises 20 aspects and sets what needs to be done with each to enhance integrity, coupling it with a fixed time frame and a list of the agencies in charge of implementation.