Jordan stresses need for cooperation, reforms in Middle East, North Africa

Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh has stressed the need for intensifying cooperation and reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, Xinhua news agency reported. Recent developments "have reaffirmed and brought home the pressing need for a sincere, irreversible reform process to address all the intractable challenges and problems that have overwhelmed the region for many years," said Judeh in his speech at the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna yesterday. He also called for "a fresh thinking and a firm determination" which should fully respect the "will and choice of the people in the region." "Generations have waited for the ability and opportunity to participate in shaping their future," he said. The minister said Jordan consistently supports regional and international efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis through a political process that fulfils the aspiration of the Syrian people. He also expressed Jordan's willingness to intensify cooperation with the OSCE on political and security matters in the Mediterranean. The minister later discussed Jordan's efforts to promote negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on a final solution, as well as Jordan's commitment to participating in international peace efforts.