The fact that Friday’s summit between King Abdullah and US President Barack Obama lasted for over two hours is telling.
The two leaders had a busy agenda at their meeting at the Annenberg retreat in California that tackled various issues, starting with bilateral ties and moving to hot regional issues.
It may be the longest summit between the two leaders who meet periodically to exchange notes on various issues and regional developments.
Certainly Jordan’s interests lie at the heart of such meetings held by the King with various world leaders.
With the US, it is a different issue in view of the close ties between the two countries who see eye to eye on many subjects and are keen to bolster their ties as much as possible.
As Jordan’s ally, Washington has shown a great degree of understanding of pressures faced by the Kingdom in the face of regional developments. Reflecting the degree of understanding, Obama announced that his country will be extending further loan guarantees to the Kingdom, totalling $1 billion, and will carry on with other assistance programmes.
Among a host of other issues the two leaders tackled were efforts to breathe life into the Mideast peace process, spearheaded by US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as the bloody conflict in Syria, which continues to make victims on daily basis and to send more refugees to neighbouring countries, Jordan included.
Obama, who visited Jordan last spring, has shown great keenness not only to help Jordan as it continues to offer shelter to more Syrian refugees, who now number over 600,000, but also to get advice from the King on means to tackle the thorny Syrian file.
Jordan is one of the countries most affected by the conflict, after Syria, as more and more refugees continue to arrive, placing a heavy burden on the country’s economy, infrastructure and limited resources.
This raging conflict is also feeding extremism and sectarian strife beyond Syria, and needs the attention of the world community as a whole to solve it in a manner that ends bloodshed, protects the Syrian people’s interests and unity and safeguards the country’s territorial integrity.
As to Kerry’s efforts to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, Jordan has a big stake in this development, particularly that failure to solve the conflict would come at the expense of the Kingdom and could undermine its interests and security.
The King reaffirmed that Jordan remains a key stakeholder in the final-status negotiations between the two parties and will work to safeguard its interests even as it continues its efforts to serve the cause of peace and help the Palestinian people regain their legitimate rights on their national soil.
