Jordan Times
Monday, September 27, 2004
Kingdom to lead regional
efforts on good governance
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — Arab ministers meeting here tasked Jordan on Sunday to lead efforts on
realising good governance in the region as well as talks with donors to fund
Mideast reforms.
Following discussions inaugurated by Prime Minister Faisal Fayez at the Four
Seasons Hotel, 15 Arab ministers holding justice, administration, human
resources and IT portfolios, entrusted the Kingdom to assume the task of
preparing for a larger conference at the Dead Sea on good governance. The Nov.
6-7 meeting will be at the level of prime ministers.
Jordan was also entrusted to hold talks with donor countries and Arab and
international funds to aid reforms in the Middle East.
Representatives of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and
the UNDP, as well as ambassadors of donor countries attended yesterday's
preparatory meeting, which mainly looked into the Good Governance Initiative
Programme drafted by Jordan, along with Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon and
Dubai, in coordination with the two organisations.
“Administrative development and good governance are the basis of any reform
process,” Fayez told the meeting, stressing that this kind of change is a
prerequisite to political development.
The premier said guaranteeing women's rights, enhancing the media role,
upgrading civil service performance, eliminating bureaucracy should be addressed
as part of efforts to achieve good governance.
For Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Salah Bashir,
who attended the discussions, good governance should be based on judicial reform
and empowering the private sector to become the engine of economic growth in the
area.
The three-year plan, recommended by the Tunis Arab summit in March, is built on
six reform aspects, representing success stories in the six Arab countries
involved in the initiative: Morocco's civil service and impartiality, Dubai's
e-government, Egypt's good governance of public money, Tunisia's management of
public resources, Jordan's modernisation of the judiciary and Lebanon's media
and civil community development.