Jordan Times
Monday, November 22, 2004
King, Queen on EU tour
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania flew to London yesterday
on the first stop of a north European tour that includes Luxembourg and Belgium.
King Abdullah will address the Foreign Press
Association in London and present its Media Awards 2004 for the best in
international print and broadcast journalism. Established in 1888, the
independent association is the oldest press organisation of its kind in the
world.
On Wednesday, the King is expected to arrive in Luxembourg for talks with Duke
Henry and government officials on bilateral ties and Middle East developments,
the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The Monarch will also meet Chairman of the European Investment Bank's Board of
Directors Philippe Maystadt and representatives of the Luxembourg business
community to discuss business opportunities in Jordan.
The King will later head to Belgium, where he is expected to meet King Albert II
as well as EU Parliament and commission members, to try to seek ways to
reinvigorate the Middle East peace process, according to Petra.
In Brussels, King Abdullah will attend the signing of a 30-million-euro grant
agreement between the government and the European Commission.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Bassem Awadallah is expected
to sign the grant agreement with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for
external relations and European neighbourhood policy.
The additional grant is to support poverty reduction and local development
efforts in underprivileged areas of the Kingdom.
Ambassador Robert van der Meulen, head of the EC Delegation in Amman, said the
grant is part of Europe's commitment to developing neighbouring countries under
the EU's New Neighbourhood Policy.
“We are disappointed by export figures,” van der Meulen said. “We try to
increase export readiness and enhance the quality of exports, and, according to
the Jordanian government, 80 per cent of the products are in line with European
norms and standards, but it seems that other factors need to be addressed.”
He said the grant will be geared towards the training and capacity building of
18 similar communities, picked according to a poverty level criteria. “This will
include transferring authority, building accountability and achieving more
decentralisation and more democratisation as well as giving the people a stake
in their development and teaching them to be accountable, and thus achieve
social development,” he said, adding that the EC may address more communities
next year through a similar grant programme.
According to a statement, the programme will be run by the Ministry of Planning
and International Cooperation.