Germany’s assistance to Jordan reaches all-time high

AMMAN — Germany announced 79 million euros in grants and loans to Jordan Tuesday, increasing the country’s pledged assistance to the Kingdom in 2016 to around 472 million euros, which is an all-time high in terms of volume in a year.

“This aid aims to help Jordan’s host communities that are affected by the influx of Syrian refugees. It also includes humanitarian assistance and is part of development cooperation,” Germany’s special representative for the Middle East Stability Partnership, Ambassador Joachim Rücker, said at a press conference.

Of the total, around 70 million euros is in soft loans while the rest is in the form of grants, he said.

Some 100-200 million euros has already been disbursed, while the majority of the remaining amount has already been contracted, said the German official.

The 79 million euros announced Tuesday include a 30-million-euro soft loan agreement signed between Jordan and the German Development Bank (KfW), while the rest is a grant.

The assistance is aimed at  supporting Jordan’s projects in the sanitation and water sectors.

Referring to the relaxed rules of origin deal with Jordan, Rücker said the deal is an important step towards boosting trade, investment and economic development in the Kingdom. 

The official said he held several meetings with Jordanian officials to maximise the benefit of the deal and be able to address challenges facing it.

“It is very important to make the deal come to life,” he said, adding that discussions with Jordanian officials covered preparations for an upcoming meeting in Brussels on January 25 when representatives of some 40 Jordanian enterprises will meet with EU buyers and companies.

“There is a need for better advertisements of the deal and its benefits as many still do not know about it and its benefits,” said Rücker.

Commending Jordan’s efforts in employing Syrians and providing education to Syrian children, the official said Jordan has already granted around 34,500 work permits to Syrians since the beginning of the year.

“This is a very positive development,” he said.

He added that Germany, under the Middle East Employment Drive, has been helping to ensure that more people can earn their own livelihood. Since February, 11,046 people in Jordan alone have benefited from the initiative and found job opportunities.

Jordan, with Germany’s support, has taken substantial measures to enable an additional 50,000 Syrian refugee children to attend school by expanding the double shift school system and removing administrative obstacles. 

A catch-up programme for another 25,000 Syrian children who have not been able to attend school for a long time has been set up with help from UNICEF.

He said that Jordan has achieved about 80-90 per cent of a target set after the London conference to have all Syrian children of school-age enrolled in the scholastic semesters, adding that this percentage is higher than that achieved in other countries such as Lebanon and Turkey.

Meanwhile, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury met with Rücker over progress in the Jordan Compact, especially implementing decisions related to simplifying the rules of origin for Jordanian products, the pledged German aid for 2016 and projects in the pipeline, according to a ministry statement.

Fakhoury stressed that the Kingdom had already reached the limit, hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees on behalf of the world, and he urged the international community to honour its pledges to Jordan not only for 2016 but for the next two years.

The minister also expressed appreciation to Germany for supporting Jordan during the London conference.