Speech from the Throne

His Majesty King Abdullah II mentioned two topics in his speech from the Throne that particulary caught my attention last Sunday in Parliament.

The first one was HM’s directive to the Government to establish timetables for rapidly implementing the new energy policy for Jordan. This policy will focus on nuclear energy, energy from oil shale and on wind power. The National Center for Energy Research reacted to these directives saying that focus should be on the renewable energy sources since these are the only ones that can be implemented quickly. Nuclear and oil shale has a much longer perspective whereas the renewable technology is well known and ready for implementation.

I can only support this point of view – but I also have to stress that in order to move forward on renewable it is necessary to establish the right legal, administrative and financial conditions for such progress. The draft law on renewable energy is one of those instruments that have to be adopted sooner rather than later in order to create these favourable conditions. I believe that this law will be on the agenda of Parliament in this session. It will be do-or-die for that kind of energy in Jordan.

There is also another reason that the government should move fast on this. The new energy strategy adopted by the Royal Commission headed by prince Hamza has set an ambitious target of 10% renewable energy in 2020. Today renewable energy is de facto energy from wind power. Solar and wave might take off commercially in the next ten years but it is not the case today. Thus, as the whole world sees the need for lowering carbon emissions demand for wind turbines is on the rise and delivery times already measured in years instead of months – not to mention the complicated and very time consuming tendering process. In order to fulfil the target of renewable energy in 2020 Jordan has to move rapidly.

Fortunately, Jordan – as Denmark – is gifted with some extremely promising and highly efficient wind sites. That means that the potential for renewable energy from wind power probably is higher than 10% of the total energy mix. This is an advantage that Jordan should exploit to the highest degree.

The other topic that caught my attention was the emphasis that His Majesty put on the need for local development. The idea is to develop the local administrative entities (municipalities and regions) so that they will be able to provide reliable public services to local citizens. At the same time these entities should be accountable to the local public and thus enhance public political participation. A Royal Commission has been formed to look into the question of decentralizing.

This topic lies at the core of democratic development. Public participation at the local level paired with efficient local institutions equipped with the necessary administrative tools and financial means is highly important in the development of a democratic society. This is – like energy – an area where my country has a world renowned experience. We have been through different stages in developing local government and decentralization – a new reform was recently implemented – and we are happy to assist Jordan in this endeavour. As a matter of fact, this exact area is one where we for the last two years have been very active working with the relevant Jordanian authorities and we look forward to continue this cooperation. More on this later.