AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday asked academic Adnan Badran to form a new pro-reform government to replace the two-year-old cabinet of Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez.
His nomination is seen as a sign of the king's efforts to forge ahead with political reform in the country and follows criticism of the Fayez government by Abdullah over its performance at an Arab summit last month.
Jordan is also under pressure from the West, namely its allies in Washington, for failing to carry out satisfactory reforms, political sources said.
"The new government will be tasked with accelerating the pace of reform and the new prime minister is a progressive man who brings with him wisdom and experience," a senior official said.
US officials expressed their displeasure with the lack of political progress during talks last month in Washington with King Abdullah the official said, noting that the United States is one of Jordan's main financial backers.
"Jordan was a pioneer among Arab countries in the field of reform but it has been lagging behind over the past few years," a former cabinet minister who declined to be identified told AFP.
Jordan is also caught in a diplomatic row with neighbouring Iraq, which accuses Amman of not doing enough to stop alleged Jordanian militants from infiltrating across the border to take part in the deadly insurgency.
Baghdad recalled its ambassador from Jordan last month in a crisis triggered by reports alleging that a Jordanian was responsible for a massive bombing in February in the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Hilla that killed 118 people.
A biologist by training who held high academic posts at home and served four years as deputy director general of the UN Culture and Science Organisation (UNESCO), Badran, 69, is described by those who know him as serious and honest.
State-run Petra news agency said King Abdullah had accepted the resignation of the 27-member Fayez government.
Officials reported that Badran, a prominent scientist and former minister, had begun consultations to form a cabinet, which is expected to be announced Wednesday or Thursday.
The new line-up will see the departure of Foreign Minister Hani Mulki, who had reportedly irritated colleagues at the Algiers summit, and his replacement by veteran diplomat Faruq Kassrawi, officials said.
Former planning minister Bassam Awadallah, who resigned in February, is due to return to the government and be entrusted with the finance ministry, they said.
Outgoing deputy prime minister Marwan Moasher, a career diplomat and former foreign minister, was meanwhile appointed by the king as minister of the royal court in charge of political affairs, a senior official said.
Fayez was named chief of the royal court in charge of administrative affairs, the source said.
Badran, who served as agriculture and education ministers in the late 1980s, will quit his post as president of the private Philadelphia University to become prime minister.
He will follow in the path of his brother, Mudar Badran, who was prime minister of Jordan on several occasions under the reign of the late King Hussein.
Badran's name was short-listed as a possible candidate to replace Federico Mayor as director general of UNESCO in 2000 - a prestigious job that went to Japanese diplomat Koichiro Matsuura.
04/05/2005 14:25 GMT