Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - HRH Princess Sumaya bint el-Hassan Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Jordan Museum, H.E. Caroline Dumas, Ambassador of France to the Kingdom; and H.E. Joanna Wronecka, Chief of the EU Delegation in Jordan and, have launched today the Atlas of Jordan, a pioneering work published by the Institut français du Proche-Orient (IfPO, French Institute for the Near East).

HRH has called on students and planners to take note of the historic development of Jordan when considering future development in the Kingdom. She added that a comprehensive National Information System was required to record past and present data on the Kingdom’s complex and fascinating development. She was speaking at the launch of The Atlas of Jordan at the Jordan Museum.

“The Atlas is a novel and insightful telling of the complex story of our ancient country,” said Princess Sumaya. “It is a deeply layered representation of the ebb and flow of people and communities over many centuries.”

The Princess noted that the Atlas of Jordan was a wonderful example of collegiate endeavor and multidisciplinary cooperation, carried out with passion and with an overarching commitment.

“This is a document of primary resource for planning purposes in our country, and particularly those vital chapters on social disparities and municipal development. For the Atlas sets out to explain and explore the formation of Jordan’s built landscape over time and, as such, is an unparalleled resource for planning purposes.”

The Princess noted that the Atlas was designed as a timeless record of data, and is so much more than a geographical snapshot in time. She said it was an album of evolution across time and through civilizations.

Princess Sumaya thanked Myriam Ababsa, Associated Fellow at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient for her management of the project. She also thanked the French Government and all the Jordanian institutions that took part in this great endevour.

HE Mrs Joanna Wronecka, Ambassador of EU added during her speech at the launch event “This book is indeed one of the many projects that the EU has supported. Such projects aim at solidifying political and economic relations between Jordan and the EU. Let's not forget the work of the French experts from the ''Institut Français du Proche-Orient'', without which the book would have never seen light. Enhancing public understanding of Jordan's past and present is an impressive job, thus I would like to commend the Jordanian partners for working together on this important initiative.“

HE Mrs. Caroline Dumas, The French Ambassador in Jordan added that this Atlas is the culmination of seven years of close technical collaboration between the Institue Francais and several renowned Jordanian institutions. This collaboration and subsequent launch are testament to what can be achieved by dedicated cooperation between countries.

D. Myriam Ababsa, editor of the Atlas, geographer at the French Institute for the Near East also spoke at the Launch of the The Atlas of Jordan by stating that Jordan has a plethora of surveys, studies, official reports, consultants and trained high-level engineers. Moreover, the Jordanian government and universities are very open to scientific cooperation projects. It was therefore a pleasure to seek out statistical and cartographic data with the wholehearted collaboration of my counterparts.