Jordan receives 1 billion dollar grant from Saudi Arabia

Jul 26, 2011, 11:14 GMT

Amman - Jordan has received a new grant of 1 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom cope with its growing financial burdens, government officials said in Amman on Tuesday.

The new donation takes Saudi financial aid to Jordan to 1.4 billion dollars over the past two months.

In a message to the Saudi leadership, Jordan's King Abdullah thanked Riyadh for its 'generous support to Jordan which is suffering due to hard global economic conditions and surging oil prices.'

He said Saudi financial support to Jordan would foster 'real ties of solidarity and integration' between the two pro-Western monarchies which have emerged safe so far from the turmoil of the Arab Spring.

Commentators said Saudi Arabia was keen to help the Jordanian government, which is facing demands for political reform, to avoid the spread of turmoil to the Saudi Kingdom.

Abdullah has supported political reform toward majority parliamentary government and has instructed an ad hoc panel to amend the constitution accordingly.

The new Saudi grant came one week before Jordan was due to start talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states on terms under which the Hashemite Kingdom would be admitted to the oil-rich Arab bloc.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh is to fly to Saudi Arabia next week for talks with his six GCC counterparts to lay down the framework for Jordan's membership in the GCC, which was founded in 1981 as an economic partnership.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly proposed Jordan's admission following the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt as a pragmatic way to support the king.

The move, which is backed by the United States, aims to help Jordan deal with an unprecedented budget deficit of more than 2 billion dollars, diplomats said.

Through admission to the GCC, Amman will take on logistic and strategic responsibilities for defending the oil-rich Gulf against Iran, they added.

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