His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the government's programme for 2010, as Prime Minister Samir Rifai and his ministerial team presented the King with an outline of the plan.

"For the first time, there is a clear strategy for the government," King Abdullah said.

"If everyone works with transparency and sincerity, citizens will feel the institutional effort that aims to enhance living conditions," he added during the meeting held at the Royal Offices in Hummar in Amman and attended by Royal Court Chief Nasser Lozi and the King's Advisor Ayman Safadi.

King Abdullah encouraged the government to work as one team, in order to best serve the national interest, and indicated that he would follow up on the programme's progress.

“I will remain in contact with you,” the King told the ministers, adding that “we have a mechanism that enables us to measure the government's performance and achievements during 2010”.

Rifai outlined the programme to journalists at a press conference following Wednesday's meeting with the King.

According to the draft distributed to reporters, the plan has seven major components, starting with public sector development, a process that entails strengthening accountability and measuring government performance.

The government will also focus on encouraging citizens to participate in political and civil life under the second component of the programme, which includes a deadline for holding parliamentary elections by the last quarter of the year.

As part of the same pillar, the government is also working to draft a new elections law and electoral procedures to ensure a free and fair voting system.

Under the third component, which focuses on encouraging the business and investment environment, the government will review the roles of existing state agencies concerned with encouraging investments, in order to integrate their efforts.

Higher education and vocational training development are among other aspects that the programme will tackle under a fourth pillar to enabling and supporting Jordanian competencies through skills provision.

The government will seek to stabilise the budget deficit at 6.5 per cent by the end of the year, and to reduce it to three per cent over the next three years, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Rajai Muasher said at the press conference.

Muasher briefed the press on the fifth pillar of the government's programme, entitled “Stimulating economic growth through implementing infrastructure mega-projects”.

He said there was no intention of increasing the prices of basic commodities “before studying the impact of such decisions on citizens”.

“The government will take measures to control its expenditures prior to considering such steps,” he said.

The programme's sixth component targets the expansion of the middle class and enabling and protecting the underprivileged.

The seventh component of the plan involves a government commitment to enhancing services for citizens, and work for better housing, healthcare and social services for citizens, including the protection of children.

Rifai noted that the programme does not cover everything in the government's agenda and that other issues and sectors that will be addressed later on.

According to the premier, the programme only provides an broad overview of the governments' priorities.

Referring to the government's intent to demonstrate transparency, Rifai stressed that the programme “is available to the public and they can hold us accountable for it”.

During Wednesday's conference, the premier stated that “it is unacceptable to have independent official agencies with budgets amounting to JD2 billion and a deficit that hits JD300 million”.

The 2010 state budget accommodates all components of the programme, Rifai said, explaining that some projects within the programme will start and end in 2010, while others will continue in the forthcoming years.

“We have predicted that 2010 will be a difficult year, but the country and its economy are in a good shape,” the premier said.