2002

(The Jordan Times, By Rana Husseini - Amman) Monday, November 4, 2002 Queen calls for strengthening union of Arab women Summit seen as 'the new-Jordan way of doing things'.

Her Majesty Queen Rania officially inaugurated the 2nd Arab Women's Summit with a call for Arab women to build bridges of understanding and trust between themselves and their respective countries to strengthen the union of Arab women.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) A leader can choose to lead or follow. True leadership entails empowerment of people and decentralization of responsibilities so that development initiatives can be sustained on the long run, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah told 20 INJAZ students during a leadership session conducted by a private sector volunteer at the University of Jordan.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, The Economic Opportunities for Jordanian Youth Program (INJAZ) was launched as a Jordanian not-for-profit corporation at a special ceremony in Amman.

INJAZ, now a national, independent corporation functioning in partnership with the public and private sectors, aims to strengthen the skills of young Jordanians through training courses.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah participated in the opening ceremony of the international "Children and the City Conference" held by The Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI), the Municipality of Greater Amman, and the World Bank with the aim of improving the well-being of children in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The conference complements efforts of international organizations working on issues related to children especially following the United Nations Special Session on Children held in May 2002.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Geneva) As part of her efforts in promoting the rights of children, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah visited the headquarters of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, following a $1 million expansion of the National Program for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labor in Jordan.

The program, funded by the US Department of Labor, is scheduled to start operation in January 2003 with the aim of contributing to the elimination and prevention of child labor in Jordan.

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – New York) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah called for sustained cross-cultural dialogue, including a greater awareness of Islam by the West, and warned of the dangers of a bi-polar view of the world.

On a 4-day working visit to the United States with His Majesty King Abdullah, the Queen's call for sustained communication and dialogue was made at the opening plenary of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in New York, as well as at a luncheon held in Washington, DC with professional women from different sectors.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah on highlighted the ability of Jordan's tourism industry to compete with its counterparts in the region.

Participating in a meeting organized by the Board of Directors of the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), Queen Rania said that Jordan is able to offer tourists a "great product" covering history, culture, and tradition.

Jordan's tourist attractions, she added, should be presented to visitors through a "modern" and tourist-friendly infrastructure.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Dubai) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah called on countries in the region to overcome challenges by empowering the creative thinkers and innovators in society, particularly youth and children.

(The Jordan Times, By Sahar Alul - Amman) Although the digital divide has been addressed in terms of access to Information Communications Technology (ICT) equipment, interested parties gathered to discuss bridging the ICT gender gap.

“We can use this time of change to change more than our access to computers, we can use it to help change ideas, attitudes and even dreams,” said Minister of Education Khalid Touqan in his keynote address at the “`E'-quality in the IT sector” conference.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - AMMAN) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah inaugurated the "Achieving e-Equality in the IT Sector" Program-- a UNIFEM/Cisco Systems, Inc. and Cisco Foundation initiative.
 
The program comes in line with national efforts to advance Information Technology (IT) in the Kingdom, and with initiatives spearheaded by Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania to provide Jordanians with opportunities to excel in the field of IT in order to play an active role in the country's progress.