Obama, Jordan's king hold talks in California

US President Barack Obama announced Friday evening that his country will be providing Jordan a USD one billion loan guarantee fund "that will help Jordan access the international capital markets." The US will also extend for five years the Memorandum "that allows that country to pursue the kind of development that will not only help the people of Jordan but help the region as a whole," said Obama. A current five-year MOU expires in September and has been worth USD 660 million a year. In remarks to the press with King Abdullah II of Jordan at Sunnylands Rancho Mirage in California, Obama affirmed that he will be discussing with King Abdullah "the political changes that are taking place in the region. Obviously, a central focus will be the situation in Syria." Obama stressed in this regard that "we're also going to have to solve the underlying problem, a regime led by Bashar Al-Assad that has shown very little regard for the well-being of his people. He's attacked civilians in ruthless ways. We are going to need a political transition in that region."We don't expect to solve this anytime in the short term, so there are going to be some immediate steps that we have to take to help the humanitarian situation there," he stressed. He affirmed "There will be some intermediate steps that we can take to apply more pressure to the Assad regime, and we're going to be continuing to work with all the parties concerned to try to move forward on a diplomatic solution." For his part, King Abdullah reiterated that the "main challenge that we have is how do we bring a political, comprehensive solution to the Syrian people."Our major concern in the area is the rise of extremism in Syria, the sectarian violence, and if we don't find a solution, the spillover in the region and the effect that will have," he said.King Abdullah also shed light on the "challenges that we face with the immense pressure of Syrian refugees and what it does to the host nation from a humanitarian point of view."I just wanted to mention, again in front of you, how grateful I am and the people of Jordan for that outstanding support," he remarked.He voiced hope that "the rest of the international community also steps up and catches up in the support not only for the Syrian refugees, but also the impact it has on Jordanians and Jordanian infrastructure, as well as looking at mechanisms of how we can push humanitarian supplies into Syria." According to a senior administration official, the discussion between Obama and King Abdullah II of Jordan was "very constructive and cordial," lasting two hours and 15 minutes. The official said Obama and King Abdullah "covered a wide range of topics, including the domestic situation in Jordan and progress on reforming both political and economic institutions." The official said the two leaders discussed "virtually every regional issue you could envision," including developments in Egypt, Iraq and Iran. The two also discussed Obama's upcoming visit next month to Saudi Arabia and "themes that may be likely to arise in that context." The official added that they also talked about the Middle East peace process and Obama "underscored our interest in and commitment to trying to reach agreement on a framework and the King expressed his strong support for all the efforts of the United States" in this area. The official said King Abdullah has "been an important part of this whole process."