King says national goals
require dialogue
26-member committee tasked
with setting guidelines for development for the coming 10 years
AMMAN (Petra) — A Royal Decree issued Wednesday tasked a 26-member team with setting the guidelines for the development process during the coming decade.
The Steering Committee for the National Agenda, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs and Government Performance Marwan Muasher, groups a former prime minister, incumbent and former ministers, leading MPs, politicians, academicians and businesspeople.
His Majesty King Abdullah told Prime
Minister Faisal Fayez in a letter yesterday that the national agenda
entails objectives that embody the overall national vision and sets
programmes, strategies and policies, to which successive governments
will be committed.
King Abdullah stressed that drafting and determining the national goals
must be the result of a “profound dialogue that takes into account the
contributions of all Jordanians from governmental and nongovernmental
institutions.”
“These goals will determine the features of our march for the coming 10
years,” the Monarch said, noting that the formation of the committee is
the first step in efforts expected to be completed in September this
year.
“We have to assert here that our keenness on achieving comprehensive
development, whose positive effects are reflected on the living
standards of the society, depends basically on the degree of our success
in facing the socio-economic challenges at this stage,” King Abdullah
said.
“Success will be measured with tangible improvements to the citizens'
standards of living.”
Although accuracy and high quality in drafting the agenda and the
wording of envisioned objectives is important, the Monarch said,
implementation and a sound evaluation mechanism are key elements in the
entire process.
“Naturally, this requires a competent government apparatus that believes
in joint action directed at achieving the envisaged goals,” the King
said, adding that this apparatus should adopt competence, merit and
accountability as integral principles in its performance.
The government, the King said, should be the “engine” of all the parties
involved in efforts to translate the national goals into facts on the
ground.
Members of the Steering Committee for the National Agenda: