Ammon News - Jordan and Germany's foreign ministers Monday met in Berlin and agreed to hold the Munich Group in Berlin in May to discuss the two-state solution to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories.
A statement issued following the discussions stated that Jordan and Germany see eye to eye on the importance of the Munich Group efforts which builds on the Aqaba Summit in Jordan to address the deterioration in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
The talks focused on ways to strengthen the strategic partnership between the Jordan and Germany through more cooperation in investment, tourism, defence and education.
The two ministers reviewed opportunities to increase cooperation in the water and renewable energy sectors since Germany represents one of the largest supporters of Jordan in these sectors.
Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi talked about Jordan's three strands of reforms: political, economic and administrative reform programmes.
On the Ukrainian crisis, Safadi said Jordan calls for an end to the war, respect for international law, the United Nations Charter and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In the joint press conference that followed the meeting, Safadi praised the "positive spirit" that prevailed in the talks he had with his German counterpart.
"What we talked about today is a conversation between partners, between two countries working together to realise security, stability and peace in our region," he added.
Safadi noted that Germany is an "essential" partner of Jordan's. He commended the "strategic" ties and "strong friendship" between the Kingdom and Germany, which this year celebrate the seventy years since the countries exchanged diplomatic missions.
"We are at a crossroads. We either allow racists and extremists to formulate the future path, and this is a path that will certainly take us to more conflict and more violence; towards disaster, or we work together.
"We who want peace. We want to stop this deterioration and for the sake of calm and in to find a real political horizon to re-start serious and effective negotiations to resolve the conflict based on the two-state solution...," Safadi said.
He noted Jordan's "special" role in safeguarding Muslim and Christian sanctities in occupied Jerusalem, adding that protecting the holy sites is a "basic priority" for His Majesty King Abdullah II.
Safadi condemned the hateful speech of the Israeli finance minister, who stood on a podium that shows a purported map of "larger" Israel with the Palestinian occupied territories and Jordanian territories and alleged the Palestinian people do not exist and are a recent "invention," urging the international community to come together to counter hate speech.
"These statements are racist, inflammatory, extremist, denying the existence of the Palestinian people, denying their identity, denying their culture, denying their civilisation; all from a platform that contained an alleged map of Israel that includes the occupied Palestinian territories and includes the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," he said.
Safadi commended Germany for its "clear" position against racism, incitement and extremism, noting the "need" to respect the international law.
On Syria, Safadi said Jordan calls for ending the Syrian crisis, not managing it, because the repercussions of that are catastrophic for the Syrian people and the region.
For her part, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Jordan and Germany enjoy "strong" ties and noted the "importance" of coordinating with Jordan to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories in the way of realising regional stability and security.
"Jordan is a key ally of ours, and it is important that we continue to work together to address challenges," Baerbock said.
She added that the conflict has flared up in the Middle East in the previous months and weeks, praising the Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh meetings to stop the deterioration in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
"The two-state solution remains the best solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis," she added.
She affirmed the commitment of Germany and the EU to support the recommendations of the Aqaba meeting.
She added that Germany "will remain" a partner of Jordan's in efforts to achieve economic development and youth empowerment and in the fields of environment, energy, and education.
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