Luxemburg, 13/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The 3rd session of the EU-Jordan Association Council, which took place on 11 October at the end of the day in Luxembourg, was mainly geared to assessing the repercussions of EU enlargement and prospects for setting up a "national action plan" for Jordan in the very near future as part of the EU's neighbourhood policy. There were also discussions about the consequences of war in Iraq whose impact has slowed down economic growth in Jordan. The EU expressed its appreciation of the role played by Jordan in the region, notably in relation to its mobilisation of Iraq's neighbours for a meeting last July in Cairo, as well as its constructive contributions, notably the training of Iraqi police and army personnel.
These ministerial level discussions allowed for an examination of the general state of cooperation with Jordan in the context of implementing an association agreement and holding an exchange of views on political development in the world (terrorism and non-proliferation of WMD), particularly in the Middle East and Iraq. The two parties made a final declaration on a common commitment to fighting terrorism and WMD and reaffirmed their conviction that the way forward to peace between Israelis and Palestinians is possible on the basis of principles affirmed by the international community.
The EU and Jordan noted the new opportunity represented by enlargement of the Union to 25 members, in their final conclusions: a larger market open to Jordanian exports. They also announced that a protocol for adapting the association agreement will be implemented as soon as European internal procedures have been finalised. The Association Council's conclusions said that enlargement would increase the EU's role in the world and allow it to strengthen its relations with neighbouring countries in the East and in the South. It is in this perspective that the European Neighbourhood Policy was conceived. This approach is in addition to the policies already been carried out in these countries, particularly the Barcelona Process, which aims to improve economic integration and strengthened political dialogue. The EU also underlined the importance of a committed strategic partnership in the Euro Med zone.
Jordan's "action plan" involves different commitments in the economic arena to complete and reinforce the provisions of the association agreement for the country's development and integration with the EU. In this context, the EU is encouraging Jordan to increase its political reforms and promote the State of Law and democracy, as well as economic reforms. The two parties underlined the progress accomplished in cooperation in a variety of areas and detailed the state of play involving: financial cooperation, customs, norms and standards, statistics, environmental protection, scientific research, information society, transport, energy, agriculture, as well as aspects linked to justice and home affairs policy (immigration, money laundering and financing terrorism etc).
Jordan is also being encouraged to present its contribution to the Agadir Process, which is preparing the implementation of a "horizontal" free-trade zone between the our EU partners (Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco) and soon, with out doubt, Libya.