AMMAN: Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday discussed with German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Muller, Jordanian-German ties as well as ways to further boost them in various fields.
During the meeting, which was attended Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad, Fakhoury, Labour Minister Nidal Qatamin, State Minister for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani and German Ambassador to Jordan Birgitta Siefker-Eberle, Ensour voiced Jordan’s thanks and appreciation for the continued German support to Jordan. “Germany did not spare an effort to help Jordan address economic challenges that resulted from receiving waves of migrants,” Ensour said.
Jordan he added, is a small country with limited resources and faces many economic challenges due to the global financial and economic crisis and due to receiving millions of refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq, noting that this placed additional burden on the economy and infrastructure as well as the health, education, water and labour sectors. The prime minister said the support provided by UN organizations to cover the direct cost of hosting Syrian refugees forms a small part of the cost of hosting those refugees, adding that there are indirect costs that have not been taken into consideration such as security, crimes and drugs.
Esnour said that the security and stability of Jordan is so important for the security and stability of the region due to the Kingdom’s strategic location. Jordan, he added, looks forward to attracting more investments from EU countries to help the economy overcome challenges facing it, and create job opportunities for Jordanian youths as well as refugees in the country.