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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - His Majesty King Abdullah II held talks at Al Husseiniya Palace on Sunday with visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that focused on the strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as regional and international developments.

During bilateral meeting attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and wife of the German president, followed by expanded talks attended by senior officials from both sides, the King and the German president discussed means to forge closer cooperation between the two countries, mainly in the economic, tourism, development, military, security and information technology fields.

King Abdullah highlighted the strong ties between Jordan and Germany, pointing to his recent meetings with the German defense minister and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during which he discussed with them a number of issues of common interest.

His Majesty voiced appreciation of the support provided by German to Jordan in light of the challenges facing the Kingdom, noting that Jordan also appreciates Germany's role at the regional level.

On the peace process, the King said that Jordan support the two-state solution that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

His Majesty also pointed to accomplishments that have been achieved by the two countries in the vocational and technical domains.

The German president for his part, praised the strong ties between Jordan and German as well as Jordan's policies towards regional issues, mainly the Syrian crisis.

He also expressed his country's keenness to support Jordan to enable it to address the increasing burden resulting from presence of thousand of Syrian refugees in the Kingdom.

During the talks, that also dealt with the Palestinian issue, King Abdullah stressed the need to intensify international efforts to end the stalemate in the peace process. He said the issue of Jerusalem should be resolved within final status talks as well as a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis that leads to an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The King and the German president affirmed the importance of coordination and consultations between the two countries on various issues of common interest to achieve peace, security and stability in the region.

The discussions also dealt with Jordan's efforts to achieve reforms as well as means to increase Jordanian exports to European markets through improving conditions of the rule of origin agreement with the European Union.

The talks also focused on current regional crises and means to find political solutions to them to restore peace and security to the region's peoples.

King Abdullah held in the presence of Queen Rania, a lunch banquet for the German president and his wife that was attended by senior officials from both sides.

Earlier, the King and the Queen led an official welcoming ceremony for the German president and his wife upon their arrival at Al Husseiniya Palace. His Majesty and President Steinmeier reviewed a guard of honor as a military band played the national anthem of both countries.