The Government’s reply to His Majesty King Abdullah Il’s letter In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate Your Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein, Leader of the reform process and protector of Jordan and its stability and prosperity, Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you, My Cabinet and I have received, with gratitude and honour, Your Majesty's letter directing the government to draft a 10-year economic blueprint for Jordan. | would like to affirm to your Majesty that putting forward full-fledged plans, aimed at enhancing the country’s financial and monetary policy and guaranteeing their consistency, improving economic competitiveness, promoting the values of productivity and self-reliance in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development and ensure a decent living and bright future for Jordanian men and women, has been a constant practice and a key goal of this government. ‘The Cabinet and | assure Your Majesty that we will work diligently to prepare this blueprint, adopting a participatory approach, based on openness to all of the country’s social and economic stakeholders, including government agencies, parliament, the private sector, civil society organizations and other national entities. Through this approach, the blueprint will be the fruit of a collective national endeavour, where all stakeholders have an active role to play, not only its drafting, but also in the process of its implementation and follow-up. Further, in line with Your Majesty's directives, this effort will result in drawing a roadmap for my government and the governments to follow. It will be based on the challenges facing the national economy, particularly those faced by the sectors of energy, water, transportation and infrastructure. In addition, the roadmap is expected to address the high rate of unemployment, especially among youth, the low level of women's participation in the workforce, discrepancies in the levels of development between governorates and the mounting public debt as well as the growing state budget deficit. Added to that is the impact of the difficult regional situation, particularly the Syrian refugee crisis, which poses a burden on Jordanian citizens and the national ‘economy. | would like also to emphasize that this undertaking will be built on sectoral and national efforts, policies and strategies, such as the National Recruitment Strategy and National Anti-Poverty Strategy, along with strategies tailored for vital sectors such as energy, agriculture, tourism, transportation and others. The blueprint will also be built on the National Agenda, in a way that ensures coordination and consistency between all these plans at the economic and social levels. The blueprint will complement the government's action plan and programmes for the years 2013-2016, which we presented to the 17th Parliament in its non-ordinary session. It will also be aligned with other national fiscal and economic reform programmes. Based on Your Majesty's letter, the vision aims to position Jordan as a regional hub of economic activities, capitalizing on the relative advantages of certain economic sectors. The task aims to achieve the following objectives: + Boost economic growth, achieve fiscal stability, reduce financial waste, deliver support to those who deserve it and reduce public debt to safe levels. + Enhance the business and investment environment and raise its competitiveness to attract local and foreign investment in the various economic sectors, enhance partnership between the public and private sectors and revisit the role of the private sector in terms of its size and its contribution to the development process. * Develop economic sectors, encourage market creativity and hone the tools and means of supporting priority and high-value added export-oriented sectors. STO TAN