King turns 47 today

His Majesty King Abdullah with HRH Prince Hashem, who turns four today (Photos by Yousef Allan)

Jordan today celebrates His Majesty King Abdullah’s 47th birthday.

Born in Amman on January 30, 1962, King Abdullah is the eldest son of His Majesty the late King Hussein and HRH Princess Muna.

A Royal Decree was issued on January 31, 1962 naming him as crown prince.

He began his primary education at the Islamic Educational College in Amman, and later attended St. Edmund’s School in Surrey, England.

For his secondary education, he attended Eaglebrook School and Deerfield Academy in the US.

King Abdullah joined the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in the United Kingdom in 1980, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1981. He joined the Jordan Armed Forces in 1982, moving up the ranks in the military to become commander of the Royal Jordanian Special Forces and Special Operations. He also served with the Royal Jordanian Air Force Anti-Tank Wing where he received his wings as well as his qualification as a Cobra attack pilot.

King Abdullah married Her Majesty Queen Rania on June 10, 1993 and they have four children: Their Royal Highnesses Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem.

Since his accession to the Throne in 1999, King Abdullah has focused on enhancing the capabilities of Jordanians, enriching the concept of respect and dignity of citizens, ensuring the sovereignty of the law, realising equality, justice and equal opportunities for all, in addition to focusing on pushing the development process forward and highlighting the effective role of Jordan at the international level.

Over the past year, King Abdullah launched several initiatives and issued directives to implement projects designed to push forward the development process in the Kingdom at the various political, economic, social and cultural levels, and ensure decent living conditions for Jordanians.

Labelling 2008 as the “Year of Housing”, in February King Abdullah launched the “Decent Housing for Decent Living” initiative which is expected to see 120,000 housing units built for low- and limited-income citizens in the next five years.

The national housing initiative seeks to provide homes for hundreds of thousands of civil servants, Jordan Armed Forces personnel and civil and military pensioners.

In addition, construction of houses for the impoverished across the Kingdom under a Royal initiative continued in 2008, with many poor families across the country receiving keys to their new homes.

In light of the surge in prices of commodities globally last year, His Majesty ordered the government to take immediate measures to curb rising prices of essential items in the Kingdom and alleviate citizens’ economic hardships.

As improving education and health services tops the Monarch’s agenda, several healthcare centres, schools and youth clubs were established across the Kingdom’s governorates over the past year.

He also directed the government to expand the beneficiaries’ base of a nationwide health insurance system.

Renewing his support for press freedom, in July the King announced the establishment of a fund for training and supporting journalists. The fund’s main objective is to develop the theoretical and practical knowledge of journalists in order to upgrade their professional skills.

On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day in 2008, the Monarch sent a message to Prime Minister Nader Dahabi in which he said the sky is the limit when it comes to responsible reporting and it will remain so, calling on the executive branch to remove all obstacles facing the press body.

In his Speech from the Throne at the opening of the 15th Parliament’s second ordinary session in October, King Abdullah described the media as “the people’s eyes on the truth and one of the pillars of our democratic society”.

“Journalism is a noble profession that aims at protecting public interest, preserving society’s common good and guiding public opinion, without misleading others and transforming personal opinions into public truth,” he said in the speech.

His Majesty also said focus this year would be on programmes and projects designed to develop the agricultural sector and enhance the situation of farmers.

“I promise you that in 2009, farmers will see the difference,” King Abdullah said earlier this week at a meeting with agricultural sector representatives where the nationwide Agricultural Strategy was launched.

“When we say the year 2009 will be the year of agriculture, it means that we are working seriously in a transparent manner with a team spirit to upgrade the agricultural sector and assist workers in this field,” he noted.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah received cables from the leaders of several Arab and foreign countries on the occasion of his birthday.

The Monarch also received cables from Dahabi, Lower House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali, Senate President Zeid Rifai and other civilian and military officials as well as private and public organisations, who expressed their allegiance and appreciation of his efforts for the country’s continued progress and prosperity.

jordantimes