Jordan: New Governement and new minister of water and irrigation

The new 29-member government sworn in before His Majesty KingAbdullah on 14th December 2009; is the 72nd in Jordan's history and the seventhsince the King Abdullah ascended to the Throne.

The new government is made up of 16 new ministers and 13 who servedin the previous government; of these, Khalid Irani switched portfolios,becoming minister of energy and mineral resources instead ofenvironment, and two of the four women stayed on. A new post wascreated, that of minister of state for mega-projects.

The Monarch on Wednesday named Samir Rifai as the new prime minister, succeeding Nader Dahabi.

In his Letter of Designation, the King instructed Rifai to form aCabinet that will build on Jordan's achievements and addressshortcomings through an institutional programme based on a clear agendawith performance indicators "that ensure the translation of our visionof reform into reality".

Precisely, the new Minister of Water and Irrigation is Eng. Mohammad Najjar: he holds a master's in environment engineering from Newcastle University and a bachelors's in civili engineering from Krasnodar University in Russia. He started work at Ministry of Water and Irrigation in 1981 where he held several posts.