USAID supports Ministry of Environment in stakeholders workshop regarding the Jordan Environmental Fund

The Fund will provide financial support to private companies and related institutions for initiatives and projects that will strengthen the capacity of entities to comply with Jordan's national environmental law, and promote sustainable use of Jordan's natural resources.

The development of the Fund's framework began in late 2007, through close coordination and partnership between the Ministry of Environment and the USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ).

The Ministry of Environment headed the project's direction and set its goals and objectives, while the USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ) provided technical support and consultation in the areas of framework development and recommending implementation plans.

International best practices were made available during the process and were reflected in the drafted fund regulations and operational plan. In a marked step towards enhancing private sector involvement, the fund's management committee will be equally shared between public and private sector representatives.

As part of the consultative process to obtain the input of key public and private stakeholders in Jordan, the workshop held today aimed to accomplish three objectives: review and discuss the draft Fund regulations and operational plan, obtain private sector input on priority company issues, challenges and needs for complying with environmental laws, and to agree on final Fund regulations and discuss next steps for the implementation of the Fund.

"Jordan is at a critical stage in terms of preserving the environment and sustaining limited natural resources," stated H.E. Khaled Irani, Minister of Environment, "There is a great need to integrate environmental friendly technology into the country's development projects, and workshops such as this are a great platform to obtain feedback from the stakeholders that will be affected most by what we do in terms of developing and implementing regulations."

The Minister emphasized that Jordan is working on enhancing compliance through both strengthening enforcement tools capacity as well as via providing incentives for compliance and even going beyond that to promoting environmental innovation and the use of best available technologies.

Irani highlighted the importance of environmental compliance to Jordan's economic and trade development and assured private sector and environmental NGOs that the MoEnv will continuously seek to support their efforts and initiatives as key national sustainable development partners.

USAID/SABEQ is a five-year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, it supports the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.