Fakhoury lauds UAE support to Jordan at conclusion of visit to Emirates

AMMAN — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Director General Mohammed Suwaidi on Thursday reviewed cooperation between Jordan and the UAE in the economic and development fields.

During his visit to the Emirates, Fakhoury expressed appreciation for the UAE’s role in supporting Jordan’s development efforts, a Planning Ministry statement said.

He thanked the fund for supervising the UAE’s contribution to the Gulf grant, worth $1.25 billion, which funded several projects in the fields of health, education, water and sewage, energy and transportation.

Fakhoury and Sweidi went over the progress on the implementation of the UAE-funded projects and the remaining funds, yet, to be allocated to finance new priority projects.

For his part, Sweidi stressed the importance of cooperation between the fund and the Planning Ministry, noting that the fund’s expertise in implementing multi-sector projects in Jordan is a model compared to other countries the fund is working with. 

The director general commended Jordan’s current economic and structural reform efforts, stressing the fund’s keenness to continue supporting the Kingdom in facing the challenges generated by regional instability, according to the statement.

Between 1974 and 2016, ADFD funded several projects in Jordan worth $135 million through concessional loans to projects in sectors such as phosphate, infrastructure and water, according to the figures released by the fund.

The Planning Minister also met with the Arab Monetary Fund  Director General Abdulrahman Al Hamidy who expressed his understanding of the challenges the Kingdom is facing, while commending Jordan’s efforts in confronting those challenges, the statement concluded.