Jordan sees positive achievements of “Arab Spring” in terms of democratization of internal political life: Ambassador Dr. Slaiman Arabiat

Mr. Ambassador, since Kazakhstan has gained independence our two friendly countries maintain very good partner relations. In this connection, Kazakhstani people are very interested in internal political situation in Jordan. What is the current situation in your country?

We are, Jordanians, know very well how democratic processes in Kazakhstan are developing. Last year two delegations from Jordan came to Kazakhstan to monitor the parliamentary and presidential elections.

As for the situation in Jordan, of course, the "Arab Spring" affected our country. But in Jordan it was a peaceful "Spring", without any kind of violence. Last year and a half saw about 6500 peaceful demonstrations and protests in Jordan. They were peaceful and nobody was hurt or injured during these movements. And this factor make the difference between Jordanian "Arab Spring" and other countries in the region, where there were more collisions and a lot of victims and regimes have been changed. In this situation people of Jordan request the Government, first of all, to fight corruption, to raise the standards of living of Jordanian people. In other words, people demand for political reforms and their demands take the form of a dialogue. And the leader of these processes is our head of state King Abdullah bin Hussein.

After discussion with the representatives of different political factions the King made a decision to establish committees for the further political reforms to improve democracy. The committee that revises the Constitution for more constitutional reforms is the main committee. As a result of this work 42 articles of our Constitution have been amended in order to change political life in the country and regulate democratic processes.

The most significant changes have been made to the Elections Law, it means that now we have a new legislation in this field. Another innovation that results from these reforms is the establishment of the Constitutional Court. The third is the foundation of independent elections committee which is dealing with the issues related to organization and holding of elections to the House of Representatives of the Jordanian Parliament. From now on the Government has no relation to that election process.

Considering all these changes, the King has induced the Lower Chamber of the Parliament to new elections, which will be held on January 23 of this year based on the new elections law.

The national list for elections and individual local one will be formed in Jordan for the first time ever. Our Government promises, and the King has guaranteed, that these elections will be fair and transparent. This will be promoted by presence of local and external observers, including non-governmental organizations in order to prove that the election process goes in accordance with international criteria.

Prior to the elections the King addressed the people of Jordan. His Majesty the King has called the citizens to be more active during the elections period in order to choose the best candidate for the House of Representatives and avoid the situation when someone can buy votes with "dirty money". Also the King has urged to begin a dialogue between voters and candidates and initiate a dialogue between different political and social groups. The address made by the King has been based on the interests of the whole country. All kind of relations between different strata of society should be based on a dialogue.

It should be noted that Jordan sees positive achievements of "Arab Spring" in terms of democratizations of internal political life. We believe that our elections will be successful in spite of the fact that we have some political factions which calls to boycott the elections. For us it is very important that they participate in the elections, but the point is that they are demanding more political reforms in order to improve the new Elections Law. They think that in line with this law they will not get enough seats in the new Parliament.

How do you appreciate the current cooperation level between Jordan and Kazakhstan?

In general, with regard to the relationship existing between Jordan and Kazakhstan I think that they are very favorable. And one of the reasons for this is that our King and President Nazarbayev are close friends. The King visited Kazakhstan four times and President Nazarbayev visited Jordan two times. Your President travels around the whole world and leaders and presidents from all over the world come to Kazakhstan. On average, about ten presidents or leaders of different foreign countries visit Kazakhstan every year. And it means that other leaders respect Kazakhstan and its President. I would like to note that since Kazakhstan attained its independence the President has done a lot in terms of establishing of good relations with many countries, including the Arab states.

That is why the President of Kazakhstan is different from other heads of states in the region. He is a very distinguished leader in the Central Asian region. Kazakhstan has achieved great success, especially because of its competent leadership. Nursultan Nazarbayev does many things for his country, for his people and for the region; also he has achieved great success in the international arena. It is worth underlining that he applies all his efforts in order to establish good relations with both neighboring countries and world community as a whole.

But if to say about trade and economic relations, I would like to mention that in 2009 when President Nazarbayev visited Jordan, during negotiations between the two sides, the King and the President expresses their dissatisfaction with the level of development of bilateral cooperation in this field. It was underlined that Kazakhstan and Jordan have a very big potential for expanding economical relations, there are many spheres where our countries can cooperate. Up to now have been signed more than 20 intergovernmental agreements between our two countries. And from that time we have started to boost cooperation processes, but it is still not at the level expected by both sides. Nevertheless, since we are working on it from both sides, we have many new projects and negotiations between the two sides in different fields. I think that we are on the right track.

Recently, based on the initiative of the Head of our State the new "Kazakhstan-2050" Strategy has been approved, and this strategy provides for comprehensive development and modernization of all spheres, including economic sphere. Will Jordan participate in the realization of this Strategy as an investor or a partner?

Undoubtedly, the "Kazakhstan-2050" Strategy covers all aspects of further development of your country, starting from this year and for the next 37 years ahead. This Strategy provides for such modernization of economy which will make Kazakhstan open to the whole world and, first of all, it will bring profit to Kazakhstani people.

That is why I think that each country and international business community will be interested to participate in the realization of this Strategy and its various aspects.

As for Jordan, I think that the realization of the new Strategy in your country first of all will open doors for private sector of economy. Thus, we call business communities of both countries for closer cooperation.

Thank you for the interview.