Fakhoury reaffirms Jordan's commitment to SDGs

AMMAN — The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has nominated Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury to be a member of "a limited ministerial team to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs]", the ministry said in a statement released Saturday.

Fakhoury took part in a ministerial meeting held in New York last week on the occasion of the UNDP's 50th anniversary, which aimed at discussing ways of backing and implementing the SDGs.

The minister also met with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, where he stressed that Jordan is working to integrate the SDGs into national and sectoral plans and strategies.

He said the UNDP could offer support to Jordan in different fields relevant to integrating SDGs in its various strategies. 

On the sidelines of the ministerial meeting, Fakhoury held a number of bilateral meetings with EU ministers, namely the ministers of Spain, Sweden, Norway and Poland to follow up on the implementation of the Jordan Compact, which was an outcome of the London donor conference. 

Donors at the February conference had committed to provide financial support and different kinds of concessionary funding to Jordan despite its classification as a high middle-income country. 

The minister reviewed in the meetings the impact of the protracted Syrian crisis and the refugee influx on Jordan's economy. 

He also underlined the importance of the international community's implementation of its obligations.

The Jordan Compact includes funding the national response plan 2016-2018 to enable the Kingdom to meet the requirements of hosting Syrian refugees.