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FM continues meetings in Brussels over Jordan-EU ties

Safadi tells European legislators Amman will remain voice of reason in region

By JT - Jul 11,2017 - Last updated at Jul 11,2017

AMMAN — Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Tuesday discussed political, technical, and training cooperation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, the two officials went over bilateral agreements and support programmes and discussed renewing some of these, including Jordan's membership as a NATO valuable partner.

They also reviewed the bilateral cooperation including the programme of building defence capacity and financing funds directed to Jordan.

Safadi and Stoltenberg also discussed regional development and crises and ways to enhance efforts to combat terrorism and support security and stability.

For his part, Stoltenberg praised His Majesty King Abdullah's efforts of supporting security and stability, expressing keenness on meeting His Majesty at the alliance's headquarters. He underlined the importance of the King's previous meetings. 

He also commended Jordan for hosting large numbers of refugees.

Also on Tuesday, Safadi met with EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides.

They discussed priorities of the Jordanian-EU ties and the outcomes of the association council's meeting that was held on Monday.

The minister stressed the importance of Jordan's role as it hosts large numbers of Syrian refugees on behalf of the international community.

He called for more support to help the Kingdom, stressing the need to implement the outcomes of London and Brussels conferences.

For his part, Stylianides commended Jordan’s humanitarian role, stressing keenness on mobilising efforts to sustain support for the Kingdom.    

As Safadi took part in a discussion organised by the EU Parliament later in the day, he underlined the “many challenges and opportunities we share in the region”. 

“I think developments of recent events have shown how independent and interconnected our one region is,” he told participants.  

The EU and Jordan have a solid partnership which has developed over years into partnership that allowed both sides to do alot of good all over the world, the top diplomat said. 

“We are committed to strengthen the partnership in everywhere we can. We are grateful for the tremendous support you provide to us over the years in facing the refugee crisis particularly after the Syrian crisis and you have stood with us for many years and to put our economy on track,” Safadi added, according to a video post on the EU website. 

Jordan will continue to be a voice for reason in the Middle East and will continue to strengthen common objectives, he added.

Outlining the country’s vision, he said: “We in Jordan believe reform is a necessity and this is our only way to build the future that our people deserve. The challenge is to create an opportunity for every young man and woman.

 

‘‘We are [a] country of limited resources and we are trying to reform our objectives to progress to a more democratic approach. We are working on encouraging youth and women to take part in the decision making process.”     

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