Jordan Times
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Bashir reviews
gov’t measures for Iraqis with US official
Foreign Minister Salah Bashir on Wednesday briefed US acting Assistant Secretary
of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Samuel Witten on the Kingdom’s
efforts to improve the living conditions of Iraqis residing in Jordan, and to
provide them with health and education services. Also yesterday, Witten and an
accompanying delegation met with Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali to discuss Jordanian assistance to Iraqis in the
Kingdom. During the meeting, Al-Ali listed government measures, including
allowing Iraqi students to attend Jordanian schools, receiving Iraqi patients at
public hospitals and healthcare centres and easing residency fines and visa
application procedures, according to a Planning Ministry statement. Meanwhile,
Witten met with UNRWA Commissioner General Karen AbuZayd yesterday to sign the
2009 Framework for Cooperation between the US and UNRWA, according to a US
embassy statement. At the signing ceremony, Witten, who participated in this
week’s UNRWA Hosts and Donors Meeting, noted Jordan’s generosity as a refugee
host country for nearly 60 years, as well as the “critical role that UNRWA plays
in the region as the key provider of health, education, social services and
emergency support to over 4.6 million Palestinian refugees”.