Jordan Times
Friday, January 16, 2004
UN agencies meet to discuss Jordan's development
AMMAN (JT) — The Jordan-based Heads of United Nations Agencies gathered for their annual retreat, opened by the UN resident coordinator, Christine McNab on Wednesday, according to a UN statement.Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Bassem Awadallah was represented by Hala Lattouf, the ministry's secretary general, who participated in a dialogue with the heads of UN agencies and highlighted basic elements for growth in the country's Socio-Economic Transformation Plan (SETP) 2004-2006.
Lattouf said the Kingdom has achieved positive results as the country made significant progress in terms of real GDP. The outstanding external debt was reduced, the inflation was sustained at a low level, domestic exports grew, the market capitalisation at the Amman Stock Exchange and the foreign official reserves increased, several enabling laws and regulations were amended or introduced.
In spite of the country's achievements the country is still faced by many challenges, added Lattouf. The SETP 2004-2006 will focus on several areas: Development of human resources and basic government services, rural development and poverty alleviation and institutional and structural reform.
Jordan hosts a total of 15 UN agencies, programmes and funds, a few of them having regional mandates. The United Nations System in Jordan is strongly involved in the areas of poverty and employment, social development, environment and water resources, regional development, information and communication technologies, and private sector development.
These six developmental areas were identified through the Common Country Assessment (CCA) prepared by the UN system in cooperation with the government and other key national and international partners, the statement said.
To highlight the work of the UN Country Team in Jordan, the UN Resident Coordinator Office (UNRC) launched a user-friendly Internet portal www.un.org.jo earlier this year.
The portal includes a database designed to provide basic information on projects implemented in four areas seen as essential to the Kingdom's sustainable development: Governance/public sector reform, water, social development and microfinance/microenterprise.