Jordan, Spain ministers talk economic cooperation

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Zeina Touqan, Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the EU Cooperation Jose Manuel Albares and Spanish officials Sunday met on economic and development cooperation. According to a Ministry statement, Touqan thanked Spain for supporting Jordan in vital sectors, especially health, water and sanitation and Spain's support for services provided to refugees and host communities, noting Jordan's "deep" ties with Spain at the bilateral level and as part of the EU framework. She discussed enhancing development and economic cooperation and noted Jordan's priorities in the economic modernisation vision and the road map for reforming the public sector. Touqan and Albares discussed strengthening Spain and Jordan's cooperation, noting the continued validity of the Framework Agreement on Cultural, Educational, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, signed in 1993 as the legal basis for Spanish cooperation in Jordan. They expressed their satisfaction with the positive res ults of implementing the current Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2020-2024 between the two countries, which was signed during the fifth meeting of the Joint Committee between Spain and Jordan in October 2020. They said talks have started on developing a new Country Partnership Framework through 2025 to 2029, which will build on what has been achieved from the current partnership framework to support a group of projects and priorities within the framework of the vision of economic modernisation and help achieve the goals of sustainable development. Albares announced an increase in the volume of Spanish development aid provided to Jordan during the new programme period 2025-2029 to reach pound 80 million: 30 million as grants and 50 million as a soft loan. Albares said Spain will continue supporting Jordan's response plan for the Syrian refugee crisis. The two ministers agreed to start discussions soon to complete the framework agreement for the new Qatari partnership and to focus on governance and democracy, health and women's empowerment. The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) Director, Anton Leis Garcia, attended the meeting. Source: Jordan News Agency