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King Abdullah Addresses Parliament in Britain

Aired November 8, 2001 - 06:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you live now to Britain, where King Abdullah of Jordan is addressing Parliament. Let's listen in.

(IN PROGRESS)

KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: ... indeed, the challenges facing us today. Like so many nations around the world, your country and mine share important values, including respect for the rule of law, and the obligation to extend opportunity throughout society.

Jordan is a young nation, and a small nation. We're not blessed with vast mineral wealth. We lack many natural resources, even water. But we are blessed with a wealth of creative, energetic people. Jordan has a work force that is now, per capita, more computer literate and entrepreneurial, and better educated than most of other countries.

And we're using what resources we do have to invest in Jordan's future, to help our students compete in a global economy. We're putting thousands more computers into the classrooms, and strengthening the curriculum with information and technology, and more English-language classes.

The result of this investment is very clear: Jordan's international and human development ranking, a measure of how we invest in social welfare, including our children, has improved, internally, we see economic growth, greater exports and an investment boom.

We, in Jordan, also take pride in our democracy, and our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) institutions. Our first legislative council actually met in 1929, when Jordan was a British mandate. After independence, our constitution was adopted, and a two-chamber legislature was established, not unlike your system.

We continue to develop and improve our public institutions, and new elections and all that guarantees fair, free and transparent elections, supervised by the judiciary, was recently announced. The law also provides for an increased number of constituencies and seats in the House. This has required new registration for the voters, and administer of the arrangements for delineating the boundaries of the new constituencies. We expect all legal requirements to be completed, I hope, within a few months, after which elections will be held. And I want to say that Jordan is committed to preserving, protecting and developing our democracy, and I am dedicated to ensuring that every Jordanian continues to enjoy his basic and inalienable human rights.

KAGAN: We've been listening to King Abdullah of Jordan, as he addresses members of Parliament. The king is on a three-day state visit to Britain, his first visit there since he took the throne. He is there with his wife, Rania. That the king, King Abdullah, being the most outspoken leader of a Muslim country to condemn the acts of terrorism that have taken place here in the U.S.

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