April 24, 2024 - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources held an awareness workshop on the “right to obtain information” for students of Al-Balqa Applied University at its center located in the city of Salt.

The workshop, which was organized by the Information Requests Committee in the Ministry’s Media Unit, addressed the definition of the right to obtain information and its role in enabling the individual to exercise his civil and political rights, including participation in the management of public affairs and economic and social rights, and enabling the individual to build correct opinions and form constructive positions. On accurate information and its impact on the exercise of various freedoms.

The workshop was presented by information officer, media spokesman Linda Al-Naimat, and committee member Dr. Khaldoun Abu Hamida, head of the Central Information Unit, in the presence of members of the Ministry’s Information Requests Committee.

Al-Naimat spoke about the laws regulating the right to obtain information, referring to Law No. 3 of 2024, the law amending the recently approved law that includes the right to obtain information, best practices in applying the law, proactive disclosure, data made available by government institutions and procedures for submitting information requests there.

Al-Naimat stressed the importance of classifying and managing government information, in order to overcome the challenge of varying classification of information according to its confidentiality from one institution to another, and she reviewed to the attendees the channels that proactively publish government information and from which information can be obtained without requesting it.

For his part, Dr. Khaldoun Abu Hamida presented the information provided by the Ministry, the types of maps and geological reports available for free, and reports on strategic minerals available for investment. He reviewed the information sold for fees, such as information and reports on petroleum exploration projects, pointing out that the Ministry provides interactive maps on the Ministry’s website for mineral ores. To make it easier for the investor to know the locations of minerals within the Kingdom’s territory. The Ministry also provides the Ministry's library services, which contain technical reports and studies produced by the Ministry and its contracting companies.

The attendees discussed with the committee issues related to the right, and the committee responded to their inquiries about the application of the law by governmental and private institutions, the obligations governing the information seeker, institutions, grievances, and other issues related to the right.

Deputy Dean of the College of Scientific Research, Dr. Tariq Younis, appreciated the efforts made by the Ministry in organizing events to celebrate the right to obtain information, considering it a best practice that should be circulated to all institutions.

The organization of the meeting comes as a commitment from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to implement the awareness plan on the right to obtain information for the target groups of users of the information requests service.