Abu-Ghazaleh Chairs the Joint Meeting of the Consultative and Presidential Council of the EPDF to Discuss the 2016 Programs

Abu-Ghazaleh Chairs the Joint Meeting of the Consultative and Presidential Council of the EPDF to Discuss the 2016 Programs

AMMAN- February11, 2016 - HE Dr. Talal Abu- Ghazaleh chaired the joint meeting of the Presidential and Consultative Councils of the Economic Policy Development Forum (EPDF) to discuss the programs and plans of the forum for 2016.

Dr. Abu- Ghazaleh expressed gratitude for the members of both councils for their voluntary efforts towards the success of the works of the Forum to serve national economic and educational objectives in the Kingdom.

While the attendees congratulated Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh for being honored by HE Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the Peoples Republic of China, who presented Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh in person an award for his contribution in strengthening  the Sino – Arab relations in the first Chinese initiative of its kind, Dr. Abu- Ghazaleh proposed the establishment of a mutual council for the private sector (Chinese- Jordanian) to support economic, educational and cultural activities in addition to establishing a Chinatown and the executive plan of this project as well as supporting the project of the Chinese- Jordanian University of which agreement was signed by His Majesty the King during his successful visit to China.

Attendees provided several suggestions to organize dialogue sessions at the Forum and it was agreed to hold specialized sessions on the public budget and its procedures and the economic and educational vision thereof as well as a session on private and government schools, a session on the mechanism of marketing Jordan as a regional center for education, a session on Election law from the point of view of young people and women, and on funding sources in Jordan, and on the development funds..

Also, it was agreed to organize a specialized session on relationships with African countries and the method of addressing these and the future of the Jordanian- African relationships, a session on the importance of supporting small enterprises and another session on Japanese vocational education and developing the special recommendations to complete the project.

Since education in the Kingdom is still encountering several challenges, it was agreed to organize sessions on culture in education and educational policies in Jordan and the method of transforming the Jordanian society to become creative.

A special session is to be organized to launch specialized studies prepared on the impacts of Syrian refugees on Jordan and effects of the economy and society.

Since the Forum adopted the development of youth policies, it was agreed to organize a youth meeting on the youth international day, which is in August of each year, including various youth organizations in the Kingdom.

Coordination will take place with all committees of the Forum to develop and implement the decisions of the meeting. Also, the website of the Forum will be developed with special focus on the activities and publications.