Jordan has always been regarded as a buffer state, wedged between a turbulent Iraq and never-ending violence to its West, in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Despite the dismal realities, Jordan has not only demonstrated great resilience but also enjoyed unprecedented economic growth in the last three years. Jordan has truly become "a successful model where reform is paying off" thus representing a "new blueprint" of what a conflict free Middle East could look like.

In 1999, King Abdullah prioritized economic reform in order to merge Jordan into the global market. After several months of intensive work, Jordan was able to fulfill the requirements of the World Trade Organization ahead of schedule and became a member in 2000. It also singed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States in October of that year (which was ratified by Congress in December 2001). Further, Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ's) have been created to export duty-free goods to the USA. The QIZ's proved successful as they created 30,000 jobs, 20,000 of whom are Jordanian. In addition, training programs have been put into place to transfer more jobs from foreign workers to Jordanians. The FTA together with the QIZ's have certainly attributed to the export boom as Jordan's exports skyrocketed from $8 million in 1997 to nearly $400 million in 2002.

Furthermore, the government embarked upon the 'privatization' path as a means to empower the private sector, which is considered to be the real engine for economic growth in Jordan. Jordan's external debt has decreased to 75 percent of GDP from 190 per cent of GDP in 1989 , while its foreign currency reserves have grown from less than $100 million in 1989 to $3.6 billion in 2002. These figures also lured more investors from Europe, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The capitalization of Amman's stock exchange also increased by over 53% in 2002 and its trading volume by over 83% in 2001.

This economic boom is clearly unprecedented in Jordan and in the Arab world as a whole. However, more has to be done. The government is aiming for an economic growth of 6 percent per year in order to incorporate the 45,000-65,000 new workers that enter the market annually. Moreover, Jordan has to gradually decrease its dependence on foreign aid. In sum, Jordan is on the right track as it highlights a model of success under adversity for the Arab world encouraging reform, liberalization despite regional conflict.

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