ICC Note: Jordan’s King Abdullah met with US President Barack Obama this week to discuss the current Middle East conflicts and assess the various long-term solutions for the long run. Jordan has been a major source of security and stability for many of the millions of Syrian refugees that have fled Syria since the war started.  King Abdullah has changed educational standards to provide supplemental and complementary education to Syria’s refugee children that are living in Jordan until the war is over, without much regard to the religious identities of the refugees. Jordan’s strong role in the Syrian Peace process and fight against ISIS was noted and applauded by Obama.  This meeting comes Jordanian security forces foiled and defeated an ISIS plot to attack civilian sites in Amman.

3/2/2016 Washington, D.C. (Jordan Times) – His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday held a summit meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House over the global efforts to fight terrorism, the latest developments in the Syrian crisis and Mideast peace.

The meeting, attended by HRH Crown Prince Hussein, also addressed ways to “entrench the strategic partnership between Jordan and the US, in light of the pivotal role Jordan is playing in the region”, according to a Royal Court statement.

At a joint press conference following the talks, the two leaders stressed their keenness to maintain coordination and consultation as they deal with the challenges that face the region and the world and ways to enhance bilateral ties.

The King paid tribute to Washington’s continued support to Jordan, noting that no country has supported Jordan as did the US, “whether it is to the economy, so that we can take the challenge of refugees to our country; but also to the military and security, so that we can defend our borders, but also secure our people.”

His Majesty also voiced appreciation of Obama’s leadership in dealing with the Daesh terrorist group, at a time when the international community is attempting to find “a political solution” to the conflict in Syria.

In addition to Syria and the anti-terror fight, the King said the talks also tackled means to revive the Mideast peace process to bring “hope to the Israelis and Palestinians”.

“These are obviously challenging times, but hope is something that we have to bring to both sides,” His Majesty said in his statement.

In response to a question on the situation in Syria and Jordan-US cooperation in this regard, His Majesty said: “The relationship and coordination with the United States is outstanding and one of the reasons we are here is to make sure that we are taking the coordination between our two countries to the next level.”

“As to what is happening in Syria, obviously the political process is, I think, the priority at the moment and we are all supportive of what John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov are doing as part of the political process; but at the same time making sure that the second part of that dimension is the fight against ISIS and Daesh. And I think that both elements are complementary to each other.”

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