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AMMAN, Jordan — With an enormous help package deal granted by the Trump administration about to run out, Jordanian Overseas Minister Ayman Safadi has traveled to Washington searching for a brand new and improved deal.
Why it issues: Jordan is fighting an financial disaster and relies on U.S. monetary help, which totaled $1.65 billion in 2021. A five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) that ensures at the least $1.25 billion in annual U.S. help expires in September.
Driving the information: Safadi’s agenda this week features a assembly with Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Thursday and a number of other conferences with officers whose portfolios cowl safety, international help, power and refugee points. He’ll additionally meet with members of Congress, assume tank consultants and American Jewish leaders.
- The Jordanian Overseas Ministry stated Safadi would talk about the Palestinian concern and efforts to achieve a political answer to the Syrian disaster, whereas additionally working towards a brand new MOU.
What they’re saying: Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment and former Center East negotiator in a number of U.S. administrations, stated that in a unstable area the place at the least 4 Arab states are in various states of dysfunction, Jordan — regardless of its financial and political issues — represents a steady and necessary companion for the USA.
- “Rising bilateral help within the context of the 2018 MOU can be a small funding, and because the U.S. shifts its priorities to Asia, conveys at the least a small sign that it values its regional companions,” Miller stated.
- Mofid Deek, a retired U.S. diplomat now dwelling in Jordan, stated that he expects the entire quantity of U.S. authorities help to Jordan to extend and that Biden has a eager curiosity in Jordan’s stability. “There may be additionally sturdy U.S.-Jordan coordination on the strategic degree particularly on the reason for peace in Palestine,” he stated.
- Aaron Magid, a U.S. knowledgeable on Jordanian affairs, stated that with the Hashemite kingdom’s nationwide debt climbing to round $45 billion and unemployment at 23%, securing over $1 billion in annual U.S. help is a key precedence for Jordan’s international coverage.
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