German ambassador highlights strong ties between Jordan and Germany

German Ambassador to Jordan Birgitta Maria Siefker-Eberle described the decades-long relations between Jordan and Germany, especially at the political level, as "excellent".

The ambassador said in a statement to Jordan News Agency, Petra that the major fields of cooperation between the two countries are represented in development cooperation, humanitarian aid, supporting host communities of refugees as well as cultural, scientific, technological and economic cooperation.

In the political field, she said that Germany supports reforms that have been started by His Majesty King Abdullah II and the Jordanian government. " We are trying to contribute to this reform track through the four German political institutions operating in Jordan that carry out programs with the, Parliament as well as a number of civil society institutions in the Kingdom," the ambassador said.

She also pointed to a decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to accept the Kingdom's Parliament as a partner for democracy in recognition of its important role in building democracy. The ambassador highlighted the visits of senior German officials to Jordan and the King's active participation in the recent Munich conference.

Eberle said Germany is the third largest donor to Jordan except for the European Union, adding that the development and humanitarian aid that has been provided by German to Jordan since 2012 stood at 741 million euros. "The aid was in the form of projects that were financed by the German Development Bank (KFW) and implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in addition to humanitarian aid offered to a number of humanitarian organizations operating in the Kingdom," the ambassador said.

She added that the projects focused on the water sector, due to its importance for Jordan as well as on the sector of education.

On trade balance between Jordan and German, Ambassador Eberle said German's exports to Jordan stood at JD638 million while Jordan's exports to Germany amounted to JD16.3 million, pointing to the possibility of increasing Jordanian exports to her country especially after the recent London conference.

Regarding Syrian refugees, the ambassador said that German pledged, after the London conference to provide 2.3 billion euros until 2018 to host countries of Syrian refugees including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

On the refugees crisis facing Europe, she said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is still convinced that a solution to this issue should be European, noting that Germany cannot close its borders to the refugees and cannot see them drowning in the sea.