Brussels, 05/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten signed, during his trip to the Middle East, four financing agreements with the Palestinian authorities under the MEDA programme for projects in Jordan, for a total of EUR 129 million.
Macro-economic aid of EUR 80 million is intended for the government's structural adjustment programme and tax reform. Reforms cover, among other things, the introduction of a tax on added value, budgetary consolidation measures, continued privatisation and the improvement of statistical and fiscal monitoring. The sum of EUR 40 million is allocated to the Jordanian industrial modernisation programme intended to promote the integration of the Jordanian economy into global trade. Aims are above all the definition of a long-term modernisation strategy, the setting in place of financing instruments for SME or the diffusion of new technologies, as well as modern sales and management methods. A subsidy of EUR 5 million finances improvements to water distribution and treatment in the Grand Amman zone, and aid of EUR 3.9 million is for the institutional framework of tourism development and the protection of two historic sites.