Thank you very much for your kind words.
I know we've been very close, yet, as you said, it's politics. In Jordan we understand the pace at which things are going, but we are eager for the free trade agreement to come into force.
As I mentioned, I think what prompted the Arab Spring all over the Arab world was the economy. People took to the street, and they had their slogans. They started out being of an economic nature. Once they were on the street, the whole agenda opened up to include political and human rights, etc.
Jordan was no exception. People came out because of the economic situation and the state of our youth. I mentioned that 70% of our population is under the age of 30. The old formula was to finish school, go to university, get a good degree, get a good job, and end up in the middle class, working and achieving.
Right now that formula doesn't work. For the first time in Jordan, we had Ph.D. holders who were unemployed. They were looking for jobs. This applies to the whole Arab world.
When people took to the street, the agenda that prevailed was economic; relatively speaking, we had no problems with human rights. We had no vendetta between the people and the government itself. In this sense, it was a little bit easier for our government to interact with the people for reform. Everybody was calling for reforms, starting with His Majesty, as I said, even before the Arab Spring started. It's a gradual process. It's a process that has to be done and felt by everybody.
Thank God, as we said, that we didn't have any incidents or clashes or whatever in the some 4,000 demonstrations that took place in Jordan during those 15 months.