Qatari PM and Canadian minister discuss ties Syrian refugees

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday met visiting Canadian Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews to discuss prospects for closer economic and trade ties between Jordan and Canada. Ensour stressed “the historic” relations between the two countries and said the Kingdom is keen to advance cooperation “to serve the two countries’ interests and their people.” They also talked about the Syrian crisis and its humanitarian regional repercussions, as the prime minister briefed the Canadian minister and an accompanying team on services Jordan provides to Syrian refugees on its territory. He said services offered to Syrians had posed a new economic burden and put enormous pressure on the Kingdom’s already meagre resources, which, he stressed, required international assistance to help it cope with the refugee exodus. Jordan currently hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrians as the border guard have reported record numbers of refugees entering the Kingdom in recent weeks. Toews said Ottawa is interested in broader scopes of cooperation with Jordan, hailing the Kingdom’s role to accommodate Syrian refugees despite the economic challenges it is facing.