Ambassador stresses EU’s continued commitment to supporting Jordan

AMMAN — During a meeting with local journalists and media representatives on Wednesday, EU Ambassador to Jordan Maria Hadjitheodosiou affirmed the European Union’s continued commitment to supporting Jordan’s development in various sectors. 

She discussed the importance of the 14th meeting of the Jordan-EU Association Council in Aqaba, which was held for the first time in an EU Southern Neighbourhood country, confirming and strengthening Jordan’s long standing relationship with the EU.

She also welcomed Jordan’s reform efforts in various key sectors and commended the inclusion of five female ministers in the second reshuffle of Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh’s Cabinet. 

In the upcoming years, the EU’s continued partnership with the Kingdom will focus on enhancing efforts towards achieving regional stability. The union is also committed to supporting Jordan realise its economic and political reform goals as well as to assist in implementing its energy strategy, transition to a green economy and management of water resources, according to Hadjitheodosiou. 

Moreover, she said that supporting private sector development and digital transformation as well as innovation and growth in the green sector is also a “key priority” in order to “encourage entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses to develop ideas and bring them up to the next level in this sector”.

Hadjitheodosiou also spoke of the EU’s support to the Aqaba-Amman water desalination project, as it has pledged 50 million euros in grants. She also noted that the Team Europe Initiative has pledged 595 million euros in grants and loans. 

The ambassador stressed the significance of the EU-Jordan Investment Platform launched at the Dead Sea meeting in enhancing economic cooperation and promoting European investments in Jordan.

The Multi Indicative Programme (MIP) has allocated 364 million euros for EU bilateral cooperation with Jordan between 2021 and 2024, she said. 

She further commended the Kingdom’s “humanitarian” role in receiving refugees, stressing the EU’s commitment to supporting its efforts in this regard.

The EU’s assistance for Jordan’s Syrian refugee response amounts to 80 million euros annually for the period between 2021 and 2024, she noted. 

The union is also committed to supporting UNRWA’s role in providing assistance for Palestinian refugees, according to the ambassador, who said that in August 2022, the European Commission contributed 246 million euros in financial support to UNRWA, coupled with an additional 15 million euros from the Food and Resilience Facility.

The EU adopted an initiative for a regional “Food and Resilience Facility”, worth 225 million euros, to address short- and medium-term needs of the Southern Neighbourhood partners, of which 25 million euros was designated for Jordan, she continued.

The ambassador also discussed the role of local media in realising political and economic transformations, as well as a way to enhance channels of cooperation and communication between local journalists and government representatives.