Celebrating a historic year of UK-Jordanian connections and cooperation on the occasion of the official birthday of King Charles III

The UK is delighted to celebrate this week the official birthday of our newly-crowned King, His Majesty King Charles III.  King Charles has long been a friend of Jordan, as highlighted during his most recent visit in November 2021 to mark Jordan's centenary when he said: "I feel this friendship in the most personal of ways, as Jordan has always been a part of my life.”  

The connections between our Royal Families are an outstanding example of the close bonds of friendship that the UK and Jordan have developed over more than a century of cooperation.  The past year has been truly extraordinary and historic in this regard, with moments both of great sadness and of great joy. His Majesty King Abdullah has made no less than four official visits to the United Kingdom in under 12 months. 

Our Royal families stood side by side last September to mourn the passing of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch of all time. Ahead of his attendance at the State Funeral, His Majesty King Abdullah paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth as “a beacon of wisdom” and a “partner for Jordan and a dear family friend”. We remember with great fondness, too, His Late Majesty King Hussein's hosting of Her State Visit to Jordan in 1984 and the cordial relations they enjoyed since acceding to the throne in the same year, decades before. 

The strong ties were also visible at the happy historic moment of the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla in May. There was great appreciation then for the participation of Their Majesties King Abdallah and Queen Rania in those special ceremonies in London, and their good wishes to His Majesty King Charles for “a glorious and prosperous reign”.

Earlier, in November, His Majesty had been one of the first world leaders to call on both our new King, and our new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. 

Our friendship has shone brightly at times of joy, as on 1 June when Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales were among the honoured guests at the Royal Wedding of Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Al Hussein and Princess Rajwa Al Hussein. It was such a pleasure to witness this amazing time of personal and national celebration, and to see so many different British friends of Jordan and its Royal Family joining to wish the newly-weds all the very best for the future. 

The close Royal connections between our two countries are echoed elsewhere in our relationship that has evolved into a modern and dynamic partnership serving the interests of both countries. The warmth of the many bilateral visits and political engagements over the past year demonstrates both the continuing strength of our enduring friendship and our practical joint work on shared priorities in the interests of our peoples. 

We recognise shared security challenges and work together to make the UK and Jordan more resilient against these. Every year, British and Jordanian Armed Forces train together, such as when the King Hussein Bin Ali Brigade and the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment exercised together in Jordan in February.  I was delighted that the Royal Navy ship HMS Lancaster was able to visit Aqaba last November and honoured to attend the 200th Sovereign’s Parade at the UK’s Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in April, in the presence of Their Majesties King Charles III and King Abdullah II, and to meet the latest Jordanian military officer graduates. As a leading donor to Jordan’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the UK supports both the Jordanian Armed Forces and Public Security Directorate to increase the participation of women in their work to enhance national stability and security.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly welcomed Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to London in March, where they affirmed their commitment to maintaining our strong strategic partnership and discussed critical subjects including the Palestinian issue and Syria. Jordan hosted Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister for Development, in February, when he returned to Zaatari refugee camp 10 years after his first visit to underline UK commitment to maintaining our support for Jordan's generous hosting of refugees. When Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK’s Minister for the Middle East, visited Jordan earlier this month, he highlighted UK support for Jordan's domestic reform programme and the vital role of civil society on this, as well as the UK's new International Strategy on Women and Girls. This is underpinned by the recognition that promoting the rights, freedoms and potential of women and girls can help deliver better outcomes for all.

The UK appreciates Jordan’s tireless efforts to promote peace and stability in this region and beyond. We welcome their principled stance in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Russia's unprovoked aggression has undermined the security and prosperity of ordinary people everywhere and is making recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic more difficult. The UK is committed to playing its part in accelerating support for Ukraine in defence of the principles of the UN Charter which make us all safer, and to help bring the war there to an end more quickly, including to limit the terrible global consequences affecting everyone. 

The UK remains a committed long-term humanitarian and development partner for Jordan. We are supporting education, social protection and cash assistance for the most vulnerable people in Jordanian society to ensure No One is Left Behind and to help Jordan in continuing to provide a vital safe haven to millions of refugees from Syria and the region. In the most recent Syria pledging conference in Brussels, the UK announced up to £150 million in support for the Syria crisis which, together with the £43 million in assistance committed following the tragic earthquake earlier this year, brings total UK support this year to almost £200 million.

In June last year, the UK announced £95m in new aid funding to support the expansion of social protection to vulnerable Jordanian and refugee informal workers and to expand education support to refugee children living in the country. Our £80m multiyear, multipurpose cash assistance programme supports both the World Food Programme and UNHCR and has reached over 250,000 refugees since 2019. Our Jordan Protection Programme works with vulnerable refugees and Jordanians. It supports 30,000 people with essential services which help vulnerable children, people with disabilities and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). In the first year of the programme, over 3,600 people at risk of GBV have been supported and government staff trained to strengthen national services. 

The UK is proud to support educational programmes in Jordan and of the successful partnership with USAID on the early grade reading and maths initiative. Since 2015, we have championed improvements in Arabic literacy and numeracy for over 430,000 students and trained 15,000 teachers each year. In 2022, our programme was a partner of the Ministry of Education in launching Jordan’s National Literacy Strategy. 

Last month, the Ministry of Education and world-leading British learning company Pearson established a long-term partnership that will support Jordan’s Economic Vision 2033 through technical and vocational education and training. I’m delighted that this will benefit more than 150,000 learners in Jordan over the coming years: Providing them with internationally recognised qualifications, skills and knowledge, and help increase youth employment. 

This is one example of how we will support Jordan to achieve the new “Vision for Economic Modernisation 2033” and its target to create one million new jobs over the next decade. We also provide technical assistance to support reforms to increase trade, investment and economic growth and opportunity, and help manage debt, water and energy.

Our trade relationship is continuing to grow and we are working to maximise the value of our new UK-Jordan Association Agreement for business and to boost economic prosperity in both our countries. I welcome the first Jordanian deal with UK Export Finance for the expansion of Classic Fashion’s apparel and textiles factory in Aqaba with a value of over £60 million. This will lead to the creation of over 3,000 jobs for Jordanians by 2024 and help build shared prosperity. 

I'm proud that University College London will share its excellence in healthcare and medical education as one of the partners in a new agreement between the Jordan Investment Fund and the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund, worth over $400 million overall. The project will establish a university hospital in Amman and is expected to create over 5,000 jobs in Jordan and encourage a new generation of doctors, researchers and future leaders in medicine.   

Climate change is the threat of our generation and one that we must tackle together. This has long been a personal priority for King Charles, and we will support Jordan in delivering the commitments they made at COP26 in Glasgow and in adapting to the impact of climate change, in order to protect the people of Jordan from its most damaging consequences and seize the future potential, for example of renewable energy. 

Finally, I look forward in 2024 to Jordan being among the first countries to benefit from the UK’s new Electronic Travel Authorisations scheme, meaning that Jordanians will no longer require visas for short visits to the UK. Making travel opportunities easier and cheaper will advance our kingdom to kingdom links, boosting our business, educational and cultural connections, and so much more. 

So, as we wish His Majesty King Charles III a very Happy Birthday, we look forward to many more years of his reign, and of close personal, political and economic ties between our two countries, to help deliver more peace and prosperity for the people of the UK and of Jordan. While fantastically fuelled by our rich shared past, our unique bilateral friendship is focused firmly on a flourishing future. 

The writer is British ambassador to Jordan