FM, Danish counterpart talk ties over phone

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi on Monday telephoned his Danish counterpart, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, over boosting bilateral cooperation between the two kingdoms.

Safadi and Rasmussen went over ways of improving economic and trade cooperation and continuing coordination on regional and international issues of mutual interest, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Safadi stressed the importance of Denmark's support to the Kingdom under the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme, as well as its support to refugees, particularly through UNRWA and the Jordanian Response Plan (JRP) to the Syrian crisis.

The two ministers affirmed the both countries' interest in developing relations, creating wider spaces for cooperation and increasing coordination.

Safadi and his Danish counterpart discussed several regional and international issues, particularly the Palestinian cause and the Ukrainian crisis.

Safadi briefed his Danish counterpart on the Kingdom's efforts to halt deterioration in the occupied Palestinian territories and create a real political ground for a return to serious and effective negotiations to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution. 

He also referred to the outcomes of the Aqaba and Sharm El Sheikh meetings, which attempted to achieve a solution, and noted that these two meetings represented the first political and security engagement between Palestine and Israel in a multilateral presence in many years. 

Safadi said that these meetings also produced several commitments, mainly respecting previously signed agreements and working for the cessation of unilateral actions and the cessation of violence, and to respect the historical status quo in Jerusalem.

During talks regarding the Ukrainian crisis and its consequences, the ministers also agreed on the need to respect international law, the Charter of the United Nations and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Denmark provides $15.8 million in annual support to UNRWA and $135 million through the Danish Arab Partnership Programme. Last year, the country doubled its contributions to the JRP from $12.8 million in 2021 to $27 million in 2022, the statement added.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries date back to 1958, according to the statement.