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Under the
patronage of His Royal Highness Prince El-Hassan, the Royal Scientific
Society (RSS) celebrated on Thursday June 30, 2005 the first anniversary
for the launching of the cleaner production (CP) project.
In his address, which was delivered on his behalf by H.E. Munther
Al-Masri, Director of Majlis El-Hassan, Prince El-Hassan stressed
confidence that this project will enhance the image of the Jordanian
industry and will increase international exchange and cooperation.
He said, “We are proud that the Royal Scientific Society, in
collaboration with the Swiss institutions and with the support of the
Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs, was chosen as a truthful partner
to host and implement the ambitious Cleaner Production Project.”
Noting that cleaner production is a matter of changing attitudes and
behavior in doing business, applying know-how and improving production
processes as well as the product itself, Prince El-Hassan said it helps
protect the environment by reducing pollution and waste at source.
Concluding, Prince El-Hassan said, “ a broad application of Cleaner
Production among our industry will give Jordan a leading role in
promoting further this concept at a regional level. Jordan has thus the
potential to become the hub for regional South-South cooperation in the
field of Cleaner production.”
On his part, RSS President Prof. Sa’ad Hijazi said, “Our meeting today
represents a fruit of Jordanian-Swiss partnership. An initiative that
had been taken by RSS and has been met by all the necessary support from
the Swiss government. Today we witness the outcome of the wok carried
out by a Jordanian-Swiss team to improve the performance of Jordanian
industries through the Cleaner Production Project.”
He added, “The importance of the project to RSS stems from the fact that
it lies in line with the mission of RSS in helping local industries
improve their performance through know-how and technology transfer. The
project also receives greater importance as it is unique in dealing with
improving not only the economic performance (the productivity and
competitiveness) but also in improving the environmental performance of
the enterprises.”
Concluding, Prof. Hijazi thanked all those who contributed to bringing
this project to reality. He said, “I truly acknowledge the support of
the Swiss government and the technical institutions for their dedication
in this endeavor.”
On his part, Swiss Ambassador in Amman, Paul Widmer said, “It is easy to
sign an agreement but it is the proof that something worthwhile is
happening in the implementation that counts. I am very glad when I see
many industrialists here, which means something has been done throughout
the year and we are planning to do more.”
Stressing that the Swiss government will be financing the project for
three years, Mr. Widmer added: “This is not the first project in Jordan
with Swiss involvement. We have big hopes for this project because it is
a big project of more than $1 million. It will help Jordan most with its
environment.
He also underlined Swiss assistance in holding training programmes for
industrialists to manage pollution prevention and eco-efficiency
measures with the friends of the environment.
Mr. Hans-peter Egler, Head Trade and Clean Technology Division of the
Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) praised the role played by
RSS in disseminating know-how related to CP to national industries and
added that this will have a positive impact on national industries and
the environment and foster the integration of Jordanian industry into
the global market. He also called for continued joint cooperation in
this regard for its importance in exchange knowledge and expertise.
In a statement he made to the press, Mr. Egler said, “Some seven years
ago when we started to promote cleaner production to our partners, we
realised that we had to develop concrete tools for the industry in order
to be able to different industrial production processes. It is now an
important moment for industries in developing countries to present their
offers to become active partners in the global production process.”
Present at the event were HE Minister of Environment, Eng. Khalid Irani,
HE the Swiss Ambassador, Mr Paul Widmer, Head Trade and Clean Technology
Division of the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Mr.
Hans-Peter Egler and a number of Jordanian officials, industrialists,
members of research institutions and NGOs.
This project is the outcome of an agreement signed between the RSS and
the Swiss government. The CP aims at assisting the industrial sector in
Jordan to follow CP techniques and methods, and exploit the optimum
means that would bring about social and environmental impacts (with
regards to reducing cost of production and waste). This consequently
reduces environmental pollution resulting from industrial production,
and enables the Jordanian industrial sector to demonstrate efficiency in
production and competitiveness on international markets.
The CP is the fruit of the RSS efforts and the existing technological
cooperation with the Swiss Reference Center (University of Applied
Sciences Basel FHBB and Sustainable Business Associates SBA Lausanne),
which supports the implementation of this project in its various stages
with regards to building up manpower, implementing the practical
assessment in several Jordanian industries as well adopting the
techniques of CP and implementing them.
In its first year, several companies participated in CP, namely Modern
Aluminum Industries (MODAL), Arabian Steel Pipes Company, Union Lock,
National Paints Company and Sipes Paint Company.
Dieter Mutz from FHBB noted that the CP is one of the major fields for
international cooperation, which concern the Swiss government. It was an
output of the Rio Conference on Development and Environment in 1992,
which called for a vigorous transfer on environmentally sound
technologies, and for technology transfer techniques. Based on that, the
Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and environmental technology
centers acted together on behalf of the Swiss government to assist the
industrial sectors of the developing countries to produce in a
sustainable manner, reduce costs, thus improving the competitive
position, and thereby ensuring that the CP will help reduce
environmental pollution with positive financial benefits for the
enterprises.
On his part, Director of the RSS Environmental Research Center Dr.
Bassam Hayek, said the CP aims at upgrading the economic and
environmental efficiency of industrial institutions where RSS launched
it in 2004 covering five local industries including metallic and paints
industries. He added that the participants in training courses from
these industries, within the CP programme, learned several options to
improve the environmental and economic methods adopted in production. He
predicted that this would snowball into economic benefits with regards
to saving electricity, energy, and raw materials as well as improving
the production efficiency. He asserted that this would have a positive
impact on environment with regards to reducing the use of natural
resources, raw materials, and by reducing waste generation to the
environment.
Dr. Hayek concluded that the CP contributes to a more sustainable
industry in Jordan, enhances RSS’ capacity and provides high-quality
products and services to clients. He asserted that the most important
element in this project is the industry itself and how much it is
willing to change.”
Mr. Karim Zein, president of Sustainable Business Associates, noted that
the Jordan industry is facing a challenge to embark on wide national
cleaner production programmes in order to respond to growing requests
from international markets for environment friendly products. Indeed
Cleaner Production can prepare companies to internationally recognized
eco-labels and certificates.
In a press statement, Mr. Zein stressed that industry in Jordan is
facing a challenge which in turn is prompting it to embark on a wide
national CP so as to accommodate the growing demand of the
international; markets for environment-friendly products.
At the end of the celebration, the efforts of the companies and their
participants were acknowledged, as they have proven success in
implementing CP to advance the eco-efficiency at their production
plants. Certificates were handed by HE the Minister of Environment.
It is worth noting that a dedicated unit “Cleaner Production Unit” has
been established at RSS to provide CP services and assessments to
Jordanian industries on continuous basis.
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