Dear Brother Abul Ragheb, I am pleased to entrust you with the task of forming a new government following the resignation of the government of Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh, which has shouldered its responsibilities and confronted numerous problems facing our national economic march which also attained a great deal of achievements we will always appreciate.

Having entrusted you with this responsibility, I look forward to receiving the names of your colleagues in the cabinet who are trustworthy for their integrity and loyalty, capable of shouldering responsibility in this stage through which our country and the Arab nation is passing and facing developments, rapid changes and the process of globalisation which confront us with real challenge. We all — individuals and organisations — should be ready and capable of dealing with the new developments without abandoning our culture and principled stands. I am placing before you and your colleagues the main principles and duties which I expect from the government to carry out and to which it must remain committed.

1. the most important and noble objective is to safeguard national unity. A united internal front can ensure the nation's interests and protect its development and prosperity as well as security. The government has to achieve equality among all citizens' rights and duties and should secure absolute justice and act in transparency in embodiment of the Constitution which stipulates that all Jordanians are equal in their rights and duties. The government should adhere to the principle of equality and equal opportunities for all Jordanians and should base its appointments in government offices on efficiency and eligibility. We have to work together to establish a code of honour to put an end to wasta, favouritism and cliques. Jordanian citizens should witness the end of negative aspects which are a shame to those who practise them. Pluralism is a character of the Jordanian society and therefore should constitute real force for our country. Pluralism should not be exploited by anyone under any condition. Commitment to Jordan and to national security is the responsibility of all citizens.

2. Democracy is our course in life and is something which we will never shirk despite the hardships and challenges in order to safeguard our democratic process and open avenues for prosperity. We have to practise democracy with full responsibility with freedom but we should not infringe on others' freedoms. Freedom should be practised within legal and moral framework emanating from the values of our society and its culture. Expression of differences in views is legitimate as long as it does not conflict with the constitution or cause dissent that harms that fabric of the national unity or the country's security and as long as it does not distort the image of our nation or adversely affect our economy. We welcome national opposition which enriches our national march. There is need to put an end to all forms of resistance that obstructs foreign investments under unacceptable slogans.

3. We support the creation of national political parties which are based on the constitution and which are committed to the country's laws. We call on the Jordanians to take part in the national political development by participating in the parliamentary elections. I would like to emphasise what I have said to the nation on the accession anniversary that everyone should exercise the right to the elections. I look forward to seeing a modern elections law opening the way for free competition.

4. We respect and appreciate the legislative authority and the government should place the question of cooperation of this authority at the top of its priorities. I hope to see full cooperation between the executive and the legislative authorities in all domains especially in economic and investment areas.

5. We take pride in our judicial system and are keen on boosting its efficiency. This requires from the government to give due care to the conditions of judges with a view to raising their standards so to enable them to deal with modern economic legislations and carry out their duties.

6. We have to improve the conditions of teachers and to employ competent teachers and give them access to technology in education which they can pass on to the students. This requires due attention to higher education and scientific research. We have to enable university graduates to offer unique services to the community. For this to happen, I suggest that the government should re-establish a ministry of higher education and scientific research which can supervise the work of institutes of higher education and raise their standards.

7. We have to employ efficient cadres for our media services. The official media should not be steered to project an individual or a government but rather to serve as a media for the nation. We have to open the way for the press to have freedom so that it can flourish in a free atmosphere. However, media should avoid demagoguery, sensationalism and should remain objective avoiding any harm directed against the nation and its reputation nor should this be used to reflect a distorted image of Jordan. I hope the government will continue to privatise the press.

8. Our national economy should be liberalised, leaving no obstacle in its path. We have to become self-reliant and employ modern technology, rationalise our investments, strengthen the base of production, employ capable management and emphasise the importance of transparency in our work. I call on the private and public sectors to maintain close cooperation in the spirit which prevailed during the meetings of the Economic Consultative Council. The private sector should play a role in the national economy decision-making and we should remove all the obstacles standing in its way. We should set specifications for our national products, encourage individual initiatives, put an end to monopoly and re-examine the system of choosing government representatives in the companies' boards of directors basing our choice on integrity and efficiency. The government should activate agricultural organisations and institutions to complement one another. We should develop agricultural research, give due attention to agricultural industries and improve agricultural inputs.

9. Water is the essence of life and we have to preserve and develop our water resources through efficient management and through rationalisation. The question of water should be given due attention and the suffering of the Jordanian citizens which is due to water shortages should be addressed.

10. I hope the government will give due attention to protect the environment and introduce legal measures towards this end. The government should prepare the ground for the creation of the ministry for environmental affairs in the future.

11. The government should give due attention to tourism with a view to making the tourism industry the main source of state revenues. The government should work hard to develop and promote Jordan's tourist sites abroad. The government should take speedy measures to protect and safeguard archaeological sites without infringing on the lands and property of the citizens.

12. As regards to social welfare, we emphasise the importance of the family institution which is the foundation of the society and we want to stress the importance of mother and child care and the rights of children. The government should give social and health services for school students in poor areas. We should enforce the law which bans the exploitation of children in the labour market and should protect the families from any form of violence. The government should give women the full rights for education and employment. The youth who constitute about two thirds of the country's populations should receive care and assistance and the government should draw up plans to train them so that they can shoulder responsibility and we should direct them towards creative and constructive work. We should reorganise the labour market to help find work for Jordanians.

13. We take pride in our armed forces which we consider as the shield of the nation and the guarantee for our independence and the country's stability. Thus, we should provide the armed forces with special training and modernise its weapons and equipment in order to protect the nation to ensure security and peace.

14. We take pride in our security services which we continue to develop and strengthen while we appreciate these services we have to assert that the respect of the citizens and the protection of their properties must be safeguarded.

15. The public administration is in dire need of modernisation which should be based on modern scientific principles. It must be restructured in a manner that can cater to the needs of the nation and its aspirations. thus we should remove all forms of incompetence, corruption, negligence, wasta and decision making based on personal whims. We should strike with an iron arm on anyone attempting to tamper with the interests of people. We should employ qualified people with integrity, we should offer incentives to creative officials but we should also hold negligent officials accountable for their actions. We should put an end to bureaucracy, routine and administrative formalities in the public administration service.

16. Jordan's foreign policy is founded on a wide base of international legitimacy. Jordan respects the UN charter and the UN resolutions especially those connected with respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our inter-Arab relations are based mainly on the constitution which states that Jordan is part of the Arab nation and the Jordanians form an integral part of it. I assert our keenness on maintaining brotherly relations with all Arab countries with a view to strengthening pan-Arab solidarity. Jordan is committed to the peace process as a strategic option. Jordan will continue to support the process on all peace tracks to achieve a comprehensive and just peace. We will continue to support the Palestinians and their leadership to allow them to regain their rights and to establish their independent state on their national soil with Jerusalem as its capital. We are keen on Iraq's unity and sovereignty and we call on the international community to end the unjust sanctions imposed on it and end the suffering of the Iraqi people. As to the foreign ministry, I call on the foreign minister to act as the official spokesman of the government in the field of foreign policies.

Dear brother, over the past years, certain groups have been competing in criticising the governments for any decision these governments took, without giving due consideration to the circumstance in which these decisions were taken.

These groups have been intent on singling out little failures and blowing them up out of proportion in order to create public opinion hostile to the government. Certain newspapers and political salons have contributed the words directing public opinion to demand a change of government without giving ample time for judging the governments policies and their success.

These groups have considered the first 100 days of the government's life as a criteria for judging the government's performance. This practice has caused a great deal of harm to the country's interests.

We want to pave the way for the government's stability so that the public officials can be reassured that they will maintain their jobs when governments change. The true criteria for measuring the government's success lies in its ability to implement programmes entrusted to it. Therefore ample time should be given to the government to implement its programmes. The government should not be distracted from its duty and be engaged in side issues.

These groups have been continually harming the country and its achievements disregarding the major achievements realised over the years. These groups have benefited from the press freedoms in Jordan but without acting with enough responsibility and have been reflecting Jordan's image in a distorted and negative manner.

Other groups of people who once assumed responsibility and participated in decision making have also been attempting to sabotage the country. Once they have left their offices they started to view the country as a wreck that can only be salvaged with their return to their former positions.

I believe that the government cannot work except with the help of all of us who can help create the right environment for work and production.

We have a promising future. Our economic reform programme has started to yield fruit. But we still need more time to enable people to feel and witness the results of these reforms.

Throughout my trips abroad to seek help from the world, especially my last visit to the US, and its excellent results, I have discovered that the world appreciates our economic march and is ready to offer us assistance.

My trust in you and your colleges is unlimited and you will have my full backing and assistance. You will have sufficient time to achieve these aspirations and carry out your programmes. I wish you success.