The main issue on the agenda at today’s meeting between Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi will be the Middle East conflict. Jordan plays a prominent role in the efforts to find a solution to this conflict. A few weeks ago, Israelis and Palestinians, together with the US, Jordan and Egypt, met in the city of Aqaba in the south of Jordan in what is known as the Aqaba format.

Why did the meeting take place in Aqaba and what was special about it?

The aim of the meeting was to improve the security situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to prevent the conflict from escalating further. Dozens of Palestinians and Israelis have lost their lives since the beginning of the year. There have also been a number of reports of violence on the part of Israeli settlers against Palestinians, Israeli activists and Israeli soldiers.

The first direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians for over ten years took place at this meeting. It was agreed, for example, that settlement construction would be paused for four months and that the aim was to work towards a “just and lasting peace”. Another meeting in the Aqaba format had already taken place in Egypt.

Progress must now be made on this basis. Germany, together with Jordan, Egypt and France, is working in the Munich format to make proposals to the parties to the conflict on how to rebuild trust between the two sides. It remains the declared goal of the Federal Government to preserve the foundations of the two-state solution and to prevent a further erosion of the peace process. This is the only way to facilitate a new round of negotiations in due course

Germany and Jordan: 70 years of diplomatic relations

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi will also discuss bilateral relations. Germany and Jordan enjoy close ties. Both countries have maintained a strategic dialogue since 2018 with the aim of closely coordinating their approaches in many areas. This strategic dialogue involves not only the foreign ministries, but also several other ministries. A German-Jordanian University was established in 2005, numbering almost 4600 students and 120 German partner universities, and the two countries have been working together in the sphere of development cooperation for more than 60 years. With the Ta’ziz Partnership, the Federal Foreign Office is supporting independent stakeholders from civil society and the media, focusing on the equal participation of women and young people as well as marginalised groups.

Jordan and Germany have also both become home to a large number of Syrian refugees. With over 670,000 registered Syrian refugees and 2.3 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA, Jordan is one of the most important host countries in the region. We will continue to stand by Jordan in its efforts to care for these people.