His Majesty King Abdullah, during a meeting on Thursday with leading figures and local community representatives from the Southern Badia, launched an initiative to allocate 9,000 dunums of land for families in the Badia regions to set up agricultural projects.

King Abdullah, accompanied by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, noted the importance of successfully carrying out this initiative in partnership with the local community in order to expand it and serve more Badia families.

His Majesty also noted the need to invest in the resources and potential of the Southern Badia, especially in agriculture, tourism, and mining, adding that a number of countries have expressed interest in investing in Jordan, especially in energy and food security.

The King also called for encouraging young people to benefit from the job opportunities available in new investments in Aqaba.

His Majesty said he had directed the government to focus on the economy and to make job creation and youth employment a top-priority.

For their part, the attendees expressed appreciation of the King’s keenness to reach out to Jordanians across the Kingdom, as well as his directives to improve living conditions for citizens and enhance public services.

They also commended His Majesty support for Arab causes, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh highlighted the new investment law’s measures to streamline procedures for investors, stressing the government’s commitment to promoting investment in the Southern Badia.

Royal Hashemite Court Chief Yousef Issawi said Royal initiatives worth JD32 million have been implemented in the Southern Badia since 2006, in education, healthcare, social development, and microfinance.

A new package of initiatives to build 200 housing units for underprivileged families, and two factories in Wadi Araba and Al Jafer to create 200 and 60 job opportunities, respectively.

Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan, Adviser to His Majesty for Tribal Affairs Atef Hajaya, Public Security Directorate Director Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Maaytah, and Maan Governor Faisal Masaeed attended the meeting.