Brussels II issues a partnership document with Jordan

AMMAN — The second Brussels conference on "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" has issued a partnership document between Jordan and the international community, Planning and International Minister Imad Fakhoury said in a statement on Saturday.

The partnership aims to reaffirm the international community's long-term political and financial support for the Kingdom.

The document covers several points including progress made in implementing assistance commitments included in the Jordan Compact (JC), adopted during the 2016 London conference to support Syrian refugees and hosting countries.

It focused on the $1.7 billion financial commitments pledged in 2017 by the international community to support the Jordan Response Plan (JRP), which meet two thirds of Jordan’s needs. 

According to the document, the support should be implemented in accordance with the JC and includes sustained funding to the JRP 2018-2020, which covers both humanitarian and resilience needs of refugees and host communities with increased support to host communities’ priority capital expenditure projects.

JC also includes sustained level of grants and concessional loans, including those earmarked for budget-support. The aid, they said, should be made available on a multiyear basis and increase use and delivery of assistance through national capacities to implement assistance projects, cash assistance and purchases of national goods and services that add maximum value to the Jordanian economy.

Under the partnership, the international community will continue to work on expanding the donor base and use existing mechanisms, such as Trust Funds, including the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syria crisis, Global Concessional Financing Facility, Macro Financial Assistance and Development Policy Loans to provide concessional financing for budget support, in addition to the EU External Investment Plan, said the statement.

The success of this partnership is dependent upon the international community acknowledging Jordan’s role in hosting Syrian refugees, said Fakhoury, adding that this is a global public good that necessitates fair burden sharing. The support provided to Jordan, he said, should be proportionate to Jordan’s capacity and the magnitude of the impact of continued regional conflict and instability, external shock and prevailing economic conditions on the Kingdom. 

Also during the conference, the UK announced that it would host an international conference on Jordan towards the end of 2018 in London, according to the statement.

The conference aims to review progress made in Jordan’s financial and structural reforms, including the Economic Growth Plan 2018-2022 and the capital projects designed to improve the infrastructure and the public services that will be implemented through public-private sector partnerships.

Participants in the event will also work on mobilising more assistance to Jordan from investors and donors, according to the statement.

Brussels II brought together 86 delegations including 57 states, ten representatives of regional organisations and international financial institutions as well as 19 UN agencies, according to the statement.