Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury met with the Director General and the Chairman of Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) Abdullatif Youssef Al Hamad, and discussed enhancing cooperation between Jordan and AFESD.

At the meeting's opening, Fakhoury expressed appreciation of the Jordanian government for the fund's continuous support to the Kingdom's efforts in facing the economic and social challenges.

The Minister announced AFESD's Preliminary approval of funding Irbid's ring road through a concessional loan that worth $49 million, and Salt ring road with a cost of $47, 5 million.

The project aims at improving land transport in the governorates and the neighbouring regions, said Fakhoury.

The fund has also agreed on funding the purchase of a CT scanner for King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) through a grant worth $981,000 and the project of expanding the storages, offices and courtyards of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) in Ghabawi with cost of $655,000, according to the minister.

During the meeting, Fakhoury outlined the current economic and financial situation in Jordan generated by the regional political and security instability and the Syrian crisis's repercussions, which has become a heavy burden that affected the general financial circumstances and the quality of services provided to residents, as well as refugees.

He noted that Jordan has reached the maximum limits in shouldering burdens that are generated by regional crises and their humanitarian repercussions represented by hosting large numbers of refugees, stressing that the lack of international community's commitment to supporting the Kingdom would affect sustaining governmental services to refugees and residents.

The planning minister highlighted the AFESD's role in aiding Jordan to overcome the financial challenges.

For his part, Al Hamad commended the Jordanian government's efforts in dealing with economic issues, especially those related to the refugees and various reform plans, stressing the fund's commitment to stand by the Kingdom in its development efforts to tackle the challenges.

The fund has contributed to funding 47 economic and social development projects of priority in Jordan between 1975 and 2016 with a total value that reached $1,914 billion.

During the same period, AFESD also provided $35 million in grants, and $80 million in soft loans to fund small-and-medium sized enterprises.