Day: February 9, 2023

Cairo, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly received Lower House Speaker Ahmed Safadi in Cairo on Thursday.

In the meeting, Safadi said that the visit of the Jordanian parliamentary delegation participating in the Arab Parliament aims at enhancing Arab food security, an issue that has become a major challenge along with the water security in the Arab region, which requires intensified efforts to confront it through complementary cooperation projects.

Safadi added that Jordan, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, believes in the importance of strengthening Arab solidarity in all fields, and therefore Jordan, Egypt and Iraq initiated the work to achieve economic integration, as Amman and Baghdad hosted two conferences for this purpose, while the third meeting will be held in Cairo.

He stressed the important role that parliaments can play in order to overcome any legislative obstacles to the Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi economic integration projects.

For his part, Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, lauded the continuous development of relations between Cairo and Amman under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, pointing out to the existing cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq within the framework of the trilateral cooperation mechanism.

“I would like to emphasize that we are in Egypt and Jordan, and I say that in my meetings with my brother, Dr. Bisher Khasawneh, the Jordanian Prime Minister. We work as one team, We do everything in our power to achieve better living standards for the peoples of the two brotherly countries, especially in the matter of social protection in light of these difficult global circumstances.,” Madbouly added.

Madbouly stressed the importance of the significant role of parliaments in consolidating relations between the two countries, pointing inout to the close cooperation between the Egyptian and the Jordanian Parliaments in light of the ties that bring together the two brotherly peoples, and taking into account the similarity of challenges facing the two countries.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman, An additional relief aircraft operated by Royal Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) took off to Aleppo International Airport to deliver humanitarian aid to people affected by the earthquakes through United Nations agencies operating in northern Syria, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced.

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry’s official spokesperson, Sinan Majali, said in implementation of the Royal directives, the Kingdom continues to diaptch aid to assist relief efforts following the deadly earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkiye.

Majali noted Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) is working on preparing land convoys loaded with medical and relief supplies, in cooperation with the ministry to secure their delivery to the affected areas.

On Wednesday, the Kingdom dispatched an aid aircraft to Damascus International Airport, while another landed at Adana Airport in Turkiye.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Zeina Toukan, on Thursday met with the Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Policy and Partnerships, Mark Bowman, who is currently visiting Amman.

Bowman’s visit aims at examining economic opportunities and priorities in order to identify areas for future support provided by the Bank in Jordan, within the framework of the economic modernization vision and its executive program for 2023-2025, and the public sector development roadmap.

Toukan, who is also Jordan’s governor at the EBRD, briefed the bank’s official on the vision of economic modernization and the key features of the executive program in terms of programs and projects, stressing the importance of the EBRD as a development partner to help Jordan achieve the goals of the vision by providing concessional financing for development projects, as well as the importance of supporting the private sector, including the implementation of partnership projects between the public and private sectors within the framework of the economic vision and supporting important sectors such as high-value industries, tourism, urban development, energy and investment opportunities included in the vision, according to ministry statement.

The meeting also covered areas of cooperation between the two sides and the EBRD’s priorities for the next stage, especially in the areas of water and sanitation, energy, transportation, municipal infrastructure, the national water carrier and green economy projects.

Toukan commended the EBRD’s role and contribution of its investments and financing to the Kingdom’s development efforts and the response to the economic challenges it faces due to the repercussions of external crises, including hosting Syrian refugees.

“The EBRD is keen to support Jordan in the transition to a comprehensive, competitive and sustainable economy. We are grateful for our strong partnership with the Jordanian government and its pivotal role in coordinating our efforts to promote green investments within the private sector and in increasing job creation in various sectors, which contributes to the implementation of future economic plans in country,” Bowman said in the meeting.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman, The Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Water Resources and Environment Office signed Thursday a Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement (FARA) for the 3rd phase of a water loss reduction project, at a cost of $26 million, of which $20 million was a USAID contribution and $6 million was a Miyahuna contribution.

Under the agreement, a series of water loss reduction works will be implemented in some areas in Amman, Zarqa and Salt, replacing about 130,000 water meters, in addition to working on strengthening the partnership with the private sector and reducing physical losses by enhancing leak detection processes and developing technical services and capabilities of technical personnel.

Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar highlighted some of the challenges that the water sector faces, including climatic fluctuations and the decline in available potable water sources due to poor rainfall, stressing that the water sector has an ambitious plan to reduce water losses after updating the national strategy to reduce loss at a rate of 1-2 percent annually to reach 25 percent by 2040.

Najjar lauded USAID’s efforts to support government efforts, noting that the agreement comes to meet the water loss project’s achievements and objectives over the next four years.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani affirmed the deep-rooted Iraq-Jordan ties and the importance of boosting joint cooperation in various domains to serve common interests.

Al-Sudani made his remarks during a meeting Wednesday evening with Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labor, Yousef Shamali, who is currently heading a high-level delegation from the public and private sectors to meetings of the 29th joint Jordanian-Iraqi committee.

The two sides discussed ways to bolster bilateral and regional integration and coordination, indicating that the joint committee meetings’ outputs would improve cooperation frameworks between the two countries in many fields and leverage the available opportunities.

Al-Sudani underscored the importance of moving forward to accelerate the implementation of strategic projects, mainly in the energy and trade fields, in addition to schemes to establish the joint economic estate.

The meeting was attended by the Jordanian ambassador to Iraq, Montaser Uqla, and a number of Jordanian and Iraqi officials.

Source: Jordan News Agency