THE JORDANIAN ECONOMY IN ITS REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
This book consists of the working papers and comments that were submitted to the conference entitled The Jordanian Economy in its Regional and Interna-tional Framework. The conference was organized by Al-Urdun Al-Jadid Re-search Center, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and Philadelphia University and was held from 26 to 29 May 1996 at the Royal Cultural Center in Amman.
The conference participants included the former Minister of Planning. Dr. Rima Khalaf, deputizing for the Prime Minister in his capacity as sponsor of the con-ference, in addition to economic experts and academics from Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America.
The book consists of 11 chapters. The first chapter deals with the Arab econo-mies in the context of international and regional transformations, regional de-velopments and the world economic crisis. The second chapter deals with the Jordanian economy within the framework of the likely scenarios of regional alli-ances. The four subsequent chapters cover the water, agriculture, industry, trans-portation, banking, and foreign trade sectors of the Jordanian economy, as well as with the country’s stock market. The seventh chapter deals with the require-ments for the structural adjustment of the Jordanian economy. The eighth chap-ter deals with the economic role of the state in a liberalized Arab economy (the case of Jordan). The ninth chapter focuses on the varying perceptions of the fu-ture relations among Jordan, Palestine and Israel. The tenth chapter reviews the works of the roundtable discussions on the Middle East and future Arab eco-nomic cooperation and integration. The eleventh and last chapter discusses the working papers of the conference’s preparatory committee.
These focal points open the door for researchers, decision makers and persons interested in such topics to review and examine the various dimensions of the challenges which the Jordanian economy is facing within its regional and inter-national framework. In fact, such a thorough presentation of the topics men-tioned above makes this book a modern, indispensable reference on the Jorda-nian economy and the economies of the Arab region.
