Bulgarian president kicks off Jordan visit with SESAME tour

AMMAN — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Saturday visited Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), located in the Allan district of Balqa Governorate.

Radev, accompanied by his spouse, arrived in Amman earlier in the day for an official visit, during which he is scheduled to hold talks with His Majesty King Abdullah. 

He was received at Queen Alia International Airport by Minister for Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah, Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh, Bulgarian Ambassador to Jordan Venelin Lazarov and other senior officials, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

SESAME Director General and Jordan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Khaled Toukan briefed the Bulgarian president and his accompanying delegation on SESAME’s operations, technology and construction stages.

Toukan said SESAME, a third-generation optical accelerator, would contribute to advancing scientific research in the fields of medicine, pharmacy, physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science.

Radev expressed his admiration of the centre’s work, and voiced hope for greater cooperation between Jordan and Bulgaria in this field through recreating SESAME’s experience in the Balkan countries.

Toukan highlighted the political, technical and financial challenges faced by the team working on the project, stressing that the remarkable achievement was made possible by supporters from Jordan and around the world.

Toukan pointed out that the monthly bill for electricity in the centre amounted to about JD180,000, indicating that work is currently under way for the construction of a solar power plant to reduce the cost.

He added that a 1.5-million-euro grant from Italy is allocated to build SESAME’s hospitality centre, according to Petra.