Recognising Jordan’s role

German’s President Joachim Gauck best described the purpose of his visit to Jordan when he told His Majesty King Abdullah: “I have come here, Your Majesty, first and foremost to pay my respects. I have come here to express my gratitude and my acknowledgement for what your country has done in many areas, but above all with regard to taking in so many refugees and looking after them.” 

The German president went on to say that Europe would understand the burden Jordan and Jordanians are shouldering if it could imagine taking in a similar number of refugees like the Kingdom. 

The King pointed out that the challenges facing Europe from both terrorism and refugees “are the same things that we are all facing”. 

He reviewed the burdens shouldered by the Kingdom in hosting 1.4 million Syrian refugees, which places pressure on infrastructure, services and the budget, and called on the international community to further support Jordan. 

The German president saw firsthand the mammoth problem of Syrian refuges when he visited the Azraq Refugee Camp in the north of the country, which houses only a fraction of the 1.4 million Syrians currently residing in Jordan. 

Germany is a powerful nation not just in Europe but globally as well and the role it plays is now recognised worldwide. 

No doubt the German leader will go back to his nation carrying with him a vivid picture of the immensity of the burdens Jordan is bearing on its shoulders at a time when its scarce resources are strained to the limit.