Ammon News - Confirming its role as one of Jordan’s main supporters, the European Union (EU) on Sunday signed two financing agreements with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation providing up to €64 million.

The first agreement is financing a €39-million program: "EU support to the Rule of Law in Jordan", in support of the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Council, Judicial Institute, and Public Security Directorate. It aims at consolidating rule of law and justice institutions in Jordan, its effectiveness, transparency, accountability, and accessibility, in line with best standards and practices.

The second financing agreement contributes with a €25-million top-up to the "Green Growth" program from the Food and Resilience Facility (FRF) that will support Jordan in the implementation of its Food Security Strategy and Action Plan, and assist in addressing the impacts on global food security due to Russia’s ongoing aggression towards Ukraine.

Minister of Planning Zeina Toukan extended Jordan’s appreciation to the EU for these grants, stressing that the relationship with the EU is historic and deep-rooted.

The Minister added that these grants come at an important time to support the development and reform efforts in Jordan and are in line with the economic, administrative, and political modernization tracks, stressing the importance of providing additional grants and concessional financing in this regard, especially to support the implementation of programs and projects as articulated in the Executive Program of the Economic Modernization Vision for the years 2023-2025.

The EU Ambassador to Jordan, Maria Hadjitheodosiou, commended the long-standing partnership between the EU and Jordan and underlined that "the agreements signed encapsulate the EU’s commitment to continue engaging with Jordan in order to enhance two key sectors that touch the lives of every Jordanian; the judicial system and food security. Modernizing the Justice and Law enforcement agencies will mark Jordan’s commitment towards a human-rights and citizen-centered approach to justice and security, and will also contribute to achieving the ambitious objectives of the ongoing political modernization, economic, and administrative reforms."

The EU’s "Food and Resilience Facility" aims to support specific interventions designed according to the domestic context and needs, and focuses mainly on the partners most severely affected by the impacts on global food security due to Russia’s ongoing aggression towards Ukraine. The Ambassador stressed that "this intervention is very timely and aims to support Jordan’s Food Security Strategy and yield concrete results by, among others, facilitating support to vulnerable farmers to enhance rainwater harvesting and planting basic grains".