Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Bisher Al Khasawneh on Tuesday highlighted the importance of enhancing the strategic partnership with the World Bank Group (WBG) to support the government’s efforts in the next phase in several priority aspects.

During a meeting with WBG Dean of the Board of Executive Directors Mirza Hassan, WBG Vice President for Middle East and North Africa Ferid Belhaj and Regional Director of the Mashreq Department Saroj Kumar Jha, Khasawneh expressed Jordan’s aspiration to increase cooperation with the WBG, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Boosting cooperation aims to realise a set of goals related to enhancing social protection, creating jobs for Jordanians and moving forward in economic and structural reforms that seek to enhance financial and monetary stability, the premier added.

The prime minister said that the government’s efforts in the next phase will focus on contributing to realising the envisioned economic recovery and overcoming economic challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Khasawneh also highlighted the significance of enhancing bilateral cooperation to stimulate investment and support partnership projects between the public and private sectors through the International Finance Institution affiliated with the WBG.

For his part, Hassan commended the partnership between the bank and Jordan, noting that the Kingdom is the biggest strategic partner for the bank in the region, stressing more support and assistance to Amman.

He added that the visit of the delegation to the region after more than one year of the pandemic aims to discuss assistance means and helping countries overcome its repercussions, voicing the region’s need to create millions of jobs for the youth, which is among the biggest challenges in need for solutions.

Belhaj highlighted the importance of enhancing Jordan’s abilities to attract investments in light of the high competitiveness in the region to attract major investments aimed to address poverty and unemployment.

He also expressed WBG’s readiness to provide more financial aid to help Jordan face existing economic challenges