USAID in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Industry and Trade

The workshop was held today at the Radisson SAS Hotel and was attended by the Minister of Environment H.E. Eng. Khalid Irani, the Minister of Industry and Trade, H.E. Eng. Amer Hadidi, USAID Mission Director, Mr. Jay Knott and USAID/SABEQ Chief of Party, Mr. Rodrigo Ortiz.

Jordan's policies and regulation formulation processes, as well as the business environment are areas that can be enhanced through the adoption of good international public consultation practices and regulatory transparency.

The two ministries - the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Environment - started adopting these practices and building systematic public consultation processes to reduce policy costs and risks.

'The Ministry of Industry and Trade is pleased to be pioneering the consultation policy program. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has a record of consulting on many important policy decisions. This demonstrates that consultation, properly prepared and implemented, can provide valuable insight and information to improve the quality of the Ministry's decisions and ultimately, its performance in supporting economic development, competitiveness and growth in Jordan'.

H.E. Amer Hadidi stated during the workshop.

'Even though the Ministry has been performing consultation activities, we realize that this needs to be broadened with more involvement of different stakeholders, as well as institutionalizing the process of consultation.' He added.

H.E. Minister Khalid Irani said: 'The Ministry of Environment has made several attempts to enhance stakeholders' consultations in the form of ad-hoc activities. We believe it is time to institutionalize the consultation process to ensure everybody's involvement in shaping the environment policies and legislations.' He added 'we are committed to develop and adopt a consultation policy that is viable and suitable for Jordanian context and that is guided by best practices'.

On his part, Jay Knott, USAID Mission Director stressed the importance of transparency and action taken by the government to adopt systematic dialogue and consultation procedures during policy and regulatory development.

Knott stated: 'USAID is working to provide support to help Jordan fulfill His Majesty's vision of economic growth led by a vibrant and productive private sector, facilitated by a transparent and engaged public sector'.

Knott added: 'having said that, USAID, through its economic development program SABEQ is working closely with The Ministry of Industry and Trade and The Ministry of Environment to build consensus on the core components of consultation strategies and systems suited to the needs and conditions of Jordan'.