We couldn't begin economic reforms five years ago because of the political atmosphere that we were living in. His Late Majesty's greatest legacy was to bring Jordan to the starting gate of the next phase. He gave Jordanians an edge over other people in the area and we are taking His Late Majesty's message and modernizing it. The main priority for Jordan is the economy. If you have a vibrant economy, if the people are healthy and if the standard of living is good, then everything develops from that.
Political reform can only come from a strong economy.
I don't think you can have real political reform when a country is insecure or in a difficult situation. I know from personal experience that the standard of living in Jordan is low and there is high unemployment. Therefore we are tackling these issues, and that is what is going to take us into the future. As the economy starts to improve, as employment is created, and as education gets better, people are in a much better frame of mind and are more able to be part of a mechanism to promote Jordan at the political, environmental and social level. At the end of the day, you have to address starvation, poverty and unemployment.