FM, Lebanese counterpart discuss regional issues, electricity supply

Ayman Al-Safadi
(Photo: Petra)
AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Al-Safadi discussed with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib Jordanian-Lebanese relations and regional and international issues of common interest.اضافة اعلان

During a meeting on Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry in Amman, the ministers reaffirmed a common interest in building on the historical relations between the two countries and increasing bilateral cooperation.

In a joint press conference, Safadi emphasized the strategic and historic relations with Lebanon, highlighting the decades of cooperation and joint action working to serve the interests of the two brotherly countries and Arab issues.

Economy, electricitySafadi said Jordan “will continue to firmly stand by Lebanon to overcome the crisis it is facing and restore its security and status within the Arab region”.

However, reform must come from within Lebanon, he added. He voiced Jordan's confidence that the Lebanese brothers will overcome the challenges and reach the necessary consensus to reinvigorate national institutions to serve the country's interests and its people.
Safadi said Jordan “will continue to firmly stand by Lebanon to overcome the crisis it is facing and restore its security and status within the Arab region”.
Safadi told reporters his talks with Bou Habib tackled economic cooperation, including supplying Lebanon with electricity via Syria after Lebanon finalizes an agreement with the World Bank, which will finance the electrical interconnection project.

Refugees, Syrian crisisRegarding Syrian refugees, Safadi said that providing a decent life for refugees “is not only the responsibility of host countries, but a responsibility shared by the international community”.

“We will continue to do whatever we can to provide a decent life for the refugees until conditions allow them to return voluntarily to their country, which we hope will restore its security, stability and regional role,” he pledged.

Safadi said Jordan is working with the international community to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis through the Jordanian Initiative, based on the Arab role of engaging directly with the Syrian government on reciprocal basis to reach a gradual solution that ends the crisis and addresses all its political, humanitarian, and security ramifications.
“We will continue to do whatever we can to provide a decent life for the refugees until conditions allow them to return voluntarily to their country, which we hope will restore its security, stability and regional role.”
He said Jordan and Lebanon, both neighboring countries of Syria, want to see an end to this catastrophic crisis for which the Syrian people have paid a heavy price and the entire region has borne its adverse repercussions.

Palestinian issueSafadi also said he and the Lebanese minister discussed the Palestinian issue and efforts exerted “to stop deterioration in the occupied Palestinian territories and confront extremist agendas that are in violation of Palestinian people's rights and that try to block them from achieving their full political privileges”. Among these privileges, he noted the right to establish an independent, sovereign state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967 lines and on the basis of the two-state solution.

He reiterated Jordan's unwavering support of the Palestinian people and their rights, and said the Kingdom has continued coordinating at the regional and international levels to end the ongoing Israeli violations against them and stop attempts to change the historical and legal status quo at Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem.

For his part, Bou Habib thanked Jordan for its support of Lebanon, including its provision of aid after the massive explosion at Beirut Port in August 2020.

Lebanon, he said, also backs Jordan's position towards recent events and condemns the escalation by the Israeli occupation authorities in occupied Palestine, specifically in the city of Jerusalem, reiterating support for the Hashemite Custodianship over the Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.


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