His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday presented awards to the winners of the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in the public, private and business associations sectors.
His Royal Highness Prince Feisal, chairman of the board of trustees of the King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence (KACE), and other officials attended the ceremony.
Fayez Tarawneh, deputy chairman of KACE's board of trustees, said the award introduced the concept of excellence in institutions competing for it, motivating the public and the private sectors to improve their performance and the quality of their services.
He added that an evaluation will be sent to all ministries and institutions that took part in this year's competition, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The reports are believed to help these institutions draw up future annual work plans.
The centre's management will carry out field visits to institutions participating in the competition to train them on how to use the evaluation report, he said.
Sixty-four ministries and public agencies competed for the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in Government Performance and Transparency-Public Sector, with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation taking top honours.
Of the seven subcategories, in the “best ministry/public institution participating for the first time”, the Ministry of Finance won the award out of six ministries.
The Education Ministry came second in the category of ministries taking part in the competition more than once, while the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will receive a letter of recognition of excellence.
In the category of public institutions participating more than once in the competition, in which 47 institutions took part, the Development and Employment Fund was ranked first, while second place was shared by the Jordan Securities Commission and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority.
The Greater Amman Municipality, the Central Bank of Jordan, the Free Zones Corporation and the Traffic Department will also receive letters in recognition of their excellence.
In the “best accomplishment” category, given to institutions that registered a qualitative leap in their performance, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration and the Civil Defence Department received awards.
In the “distinguished leading or supervising employee” category, the winners were: Government Tenders Directorate Director General Mohammad Hazaimeh, Chairman of the Cultural Activities Unit at the Ministry of Education Hani Jarrah and Omar Zu'bi from the Central Bank of Jordan and Osama Melhem from the Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology.
In the “distinguished administrative or technical employee” category, the winners counted Tharwat Masalha from the Housing and Military Works Institution, Brigadier General Zahran Bdeir from the Royal Medical Services and Shaman Abdul Majid Majali, director of the public relations and subscribers department at the Social Security Corporation.
In the “distinguished supportive employee” category, winners were Khalid Khatib from the Greater Amman Municipality, Sergeant Lara Twal from the Traffic Investigation Department, fire-fighter Farhan Bakhit from the Civil Defence Department and messenger Mazen Btoush from the Department of Statistics.
Of the 41 private sector companies and institutions competing for the fifth cycle of the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence for the private sector, Jordan Ice and Aerated Water Company (Pepsi) came first in the subcategory of large manufacturing organisations. In the subcategory of large service organisations, the Specialty Hospital won first place, while Jordan Light Vehicle Manufacturing won the award in the subcategory of small- or medium-size manufacturing organisations.
The Arab Centre for Engineering Studies won the award in the subcategory small- or medium-size service organisations and Consulting Engineers Centre "Sajdi and Partners" won the award in the subcategory of winners participating in more than one cycle of the competition.
Meanwhile, in the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence for Business Associations, four societies won under the subcategory of "best practice”. They are the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women, the Private Hospitals Associations, the Jordanian Association of Manufacturers of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Appliances and the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruits and Vegetables.