US ambassador-designate says Jordan key partner in peacemaking

AMMAN — The partnership between the US and Jordan has never been more important as the two countries jointly work to achieve peace in the Middle East and to promote a democratic transition in Syria, a US diplomat said on Wednesday.

Alice G. Wells, ambassador-designate to Jordan, said the United States and Jordan “share concerns about destabilisation in the region and increasing extremist activity. We have a strong history of mutual resolve and cooperation against terrorist threats, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, where King Abdullah directed that Jordan be part of the answer to restoring stability and countering the message of violent extremists.” 

In a statement she delivered in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,Wells noted that: “Our multifaceted partnership with the Hashemite Kingdom aims to demonstrate to the people of Jordan and the region the benefits of choosing their path of moderation, of political and economic reform, of peace with one’s neighbours”.

On April 12, US President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Alice G. Wells as ambassador to Jordan, according to a White House press statement.

A career member of the foreign service, class of minister counsellor, Wells is currently senior adviser at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State.

However, the designate ambassador needs to be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

According to sources, if the Senate voted for Wells to assign her tasks as an ambassador to Jordan, she might assume her new post as of September this year. The incumbent US ambassador to Jordan Stuart Jones was nominated to Iraq.

Meanwhile, in her statement before the Senate, a copy of which was e-mailed to The Jordan Times, the nominated ambassador said as a testament to US support for Jordan, the Jordanian people, what Jordan stands for, and what it has achieved, in the 15 years since King Abdullah ascended the Throne, “The United States has provided over $10 billion in assistance”.

She also referred to the constraints that the Kingdom is facing due to hosting 600,000 Syrian refugees with the majority of whom are residing in host communities, noting that the US has a strategic interest in ensuring that the Hashemite Kingdom can meet its international humanitarian obligations without jeopardising its own economic and political stability.

“Jordan grapples with the loss of export routes through Syria, a steep decline in tourism, negative investor sentiment resulting from the war, and an energy bill that rose to 21% of its GDP when Egypt could no longer deliver on its natural gas contracts,” Wells said in her statement before the Senate.

In response to these needs, she explained that the US government is providing Jordan with a broad package of aid designed to bolster services strained by the refugee influx and help safeguard Jordan’s economic and political reform. 

“Jordan was the fifth largest recipient of bilateral assistance in the fiscal year 2013. With strong, bipartisan support from Congress, US support to Jordan has totalled over $1 billion in both fiscal years 2012 and 2013”.

“Our bilateral assistance alone will exceed $1 billion in fiscal year 2014... This assistance has helped to reduce the financial strain on the sectors directly affected by refugees”.

Last month, the US signed the second sovereign loan guarantee of $1.25 billion, which will allow Jordan to access affordable financing from international capital markets.

Wells said: “I will work to ensure that our assistance, our policies, and our diplomatic platform to advance US interests and further Jordan’s ability to withstand the Syrian crisis, counter terrorism, serve as an example of political and economic reform, and advance peace in the Middle East, while building bridges between US and Jordanian societies”.