His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday asked Director of National Security Marouf Bakhit to form a new government.

"Reform is no longer an option but rather a life necessity for the new Jordan that we want," King Abdullah said in his Letter of Designation to Bakhit.

Bakhit, 58, a former ambassador to Turkey and Israel, replaces outgoing premier Adnan Badran, who has been prime minister since April.

A retired army major general, Bakhit served as the Kingdom's coordinator during negotiations with Israel that led to the 1994 peace treaty.

Badran, an academic, submitted his resignation to the King earlier Thursday.

In his Letter of Designation, the King mandated Bakhit with accelerating the legislative process, including advancing elections and political parties laws as well as an anti-terrorism law.

“The aspirations of our people as well as our strategic goals to build a modern, highly-productive and competitive Jordan, where citizens are armed with knowledge, require democracy, pluralism, equal opportunity, the rule of law, openness, modernization, public freedoms and domestic security and stability… Our people deserve that we do exert all our efforts and dedicate our time to raise their standard of living and push them to higher levels of quality and modernization. They closely watch what governments do in a spirit of optimism and positivism — which means that we should, relentlessly and unhesitatingly, go ahead with the process of production, development and reform.”

King Abdullah also sent a letter to outgoing Premier Adnan Badran, saying that he appreciated his “distinguished performance and dedication.”

“You, and your colleagues, shouldered the responsibility and worked devotedly despite the difficult circumstances and the pressure exercised on the government from the day of its inception,” the King said.

The Jordan Times