‘Germany committed to supporting refugee-burdened Jordan’

AMMAN — Germany is committed to supporting refugee-burdened Jordan not only for its difficult economic conditions caused by conflicts in neigbouring but also for the reforms the Kingdom has introduced, German Ambassador to Amman Birgitta Siefker-Eberle.

Addressing attendees of a reception on the occasion of the national day of Germany, the ambassador said, “The Jordanian government deserves our full support. All the more since it is not only standing up for tolerance and moderation in a time when Jordan is confronted with the refugee crisis and a very difficult economic situation, aggravated by the conflicts in its immediate neighborhood, but has under these conditions embarked upon the introduction of reforms that are necessary, but not easily implemented.”

The Day of German Unity (in German “Tag der Deutschen Einheit”) is the national day of Germany, celebrated on October 3 as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990.

In addition to the challenges Jordan is receiving from external, turbulent surroundings, Siefker-Eberle acknowledged that the government is faced with a number of integral challenges resulting from its endeavour to balance between satisfying the expectations of those who feel underprivileged, limiting privileges and fighting corruption. “The introduction of anew, just and balanced income tax law is a special challenge in this context.”

Expressing Berlin’s understanding of the “difficult conditions” engulfing Jordan’s reform endeavour — both internally and externally — the ambassador said that Germany appreciates the government’s “courage and unfaltering commitment to achieve progress on the path of reform”. 

“The government is reforming the educational sector in order to foster competitiveness, inventiveness and independence as to make Jordan’s youth fit for confronting future challenges in a globalised and competitive world in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah’s Human Resources Development Strategy,” she said.

For Jordan’s reforms and for hosting a large number of Syrian refugees “until they can return voluntarily and in dignity” to their homes, Siefker-Eberle  said that Germany, the second largest bilateral donor, supports Jordan on this path in two ways: “By helping Jordan to ease the difficult framework conditions [and] on the other hand by supporting Jordan’s reform process”.

The ambassador said that the German-Jordan cooperation is focused on water and waste water management, infrastructure, education, arecheology, toursim and security.

“This ever closer and broader cooperation with Jordan is also reflected in a flow of high-ranking visits from Germany, including Federal President Steinmeier, Chancellor Merkel, Foreign Minister Maas and Defence Minister von der Leyen, as well as many Members of Parliament only within the first six months of 2018.”

During her visit to Jordan in June, the ambassador said that Merkel committed an untied loan of 86 million euros to the Kingdom in order to alleviate the financial pressure caused by the economic shocks and the refugee crisis. 

In the political field, Siefker-Eberle said that Germany shares with Jordan the committment to the two-state solution of the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

“We value King Abdullah’s role as custodian of the Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem and his efforts to protect the historic and cultural identity of the city. We also value his repeated offers for dialogue and peaceful negotiations.” 

“We absolutely agree with the Jordanian government that sufficient funding of UNRWA is essential, because the services UNRWA offers, in particular the schools, are key to stability in this region and have to continue. Germany does not only pay lip service to this acknowledgement, but, at the sidelines of the 73rd UNGA, has just committed to top up the 81 million euros already transmitted to UNRWA in 2018 by another 18 million euros for this year and a larger sum is still being considered.