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Jordan and Germany: Bilateral relations

03.02.2022 - Article

Germany has long enjoyed close and friendly political relations with Jordan. In many areas, Germany is one of the most important partners of this country, which in 1994 was the second Arab state to conclude a peace treaty with Israel and is actively engaged, both within the region and internationally, in efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict. Bundeswehr units have been stationed in Jordan since October 2017 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (Global Coalition against Daesh).

Bilateral trade is the key element in economic relations between Germany and Jordan. In 2020, German exports to Jordan were worth approximately 633.36 million euros, and Jordanian exports to Germany about 35.3 million euros. In terms of imports, Germany is Jordan’s most important European trading partner. There are good investment opportunities for German companies in renewable energy, green technologies as well as in the service sector.

2019 marks the 60th anniversary of German-Jordanian development cooperation. Germany is the country’s second-largest bilateral donor, behind the United States. Development cooperation focuses on the water supply/waste water sector, education/vocational training and employment. Jordan is one of the world’s poorest countries in terms of available water resources per capita.

The German-Jordanian University (GJU), which was launched in 2005, is Germany’s biggest university export project in Jordan, with a focus on engineering subjects and business studies. This state university’s curricula and teaching programmes are modelled on those of German universities of applied sciences.

As part of the Schools: Partners for the Future initiative (PASCH), German as a foreign language is taught at four schools in Jordan that are overseen by the Goethe-Institut.

In archaeology, Germany and Jordan have been cooperating closely for many decades. A branch of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology of the Holy Land (DEIAHL), which is also a research unit of the DAI, coordinates joint excavations with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, especially in the north of the country (Jerash, Gadara, Tell Zira’a near Umm Qais and Tell Usher near Irbid).

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