Jordan's King Abdullah II urged his government Sunday to speed up in implementing the country's nascent nuclear power program in a bid to cut energy imports, the official Petra news agency reported.

Following up on his January announcement of his intentions to develop a peaceful nuclear program, the king stressed the need for an alternative energy source to generate electricity and desalinate water in the face of the rising costs of imported energy.

This issue is one of the most important challenges Jordan faces requiring radical solutions in the long term, Abdullah told the first meeting of the recently formed Supreme Committee for Nuclear Energy Strategy.