EU foreign policy chief due in Jordan today

AMMAN — EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini is scheduled to arrive in Jordan on Tuesday to discuss how the EU can help the Kingdom in managing the number of Syrian refugees flowing in due to the Syrian crisis. 

"We are together in managing one of the worst if not the worst humanitarian crisis," Mogherini said during her visit to Lebanon, Agence France-Presse reported on Monday.

The EU representative was in Lebanon on Monday and met with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in Beirut. 

Mogherini's visit to the Middle East comes as Europe grapples with its worst migrant crisis since World War II. 

But while over one million migrants reached Europe's shores in 2015 alone, Syria's neighbours have shouldered the bulk of the refugee crisis triggered by the five-year war, AFP said. 

Her visit also comes as a landmark since the EU-Turkish deal took effect, with Brussels seeking to curb the influx to Europe. 

His Majesty King Abdullah was in Brussels last week and met with EU leaders to discuss negotiations on the Jordanian-EU partnership programme and a deal to expand NATO's military support to Jordan through a capacity-building programme. 

During the visit, King Abdullah expressed appreciation for the European Parliament’s support to Jordan and its development process within the context of the Kingdom’s advanced status as an EU partner. 

Since the war in Syria, Jordan has offered shelter to over 630,000 refugees, Lebanon has the world’s highest refugee population per capita, and Turkey hosts 2.7 million Syrians, according to AFP.