PM, ministers to visit Azraq camp

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, accompanied by several ministers, is scheduled to visit the Azraq Refugee Camp on Saturday, a government source said on Thursday.

“The visit is important as it comes ahead of the London conference next week,” the source said, highlighting the services Jordan continues to provide for refugees, the majority of whom are living among host communities.

Jordan’s villages, cities and governorates have utilised their scarce resources to support these refugees, the source added.

Interior Minister Salameh Hammad, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani are scheduled to accompany Ensour.

Azraq camp, some 100km east of Amman and 20km west of the town of Azraq in Zarqa Governorate, is currently home to 29,992 refugees, according to the UNHCR’s latest available figures.

In remarks on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh stressed the importance of the London donor conference in helping Syrian refugee host countries.

At a meeting with heads of EU delegations to the Middle East and North Africa, Judeh highlighted the difficulties brought on by hosting Syrians in the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Around 1.3 million Syrians are in Jordan, according to official figures, but only around half of them are registered as refugees.