Planning Ministry, OPEC Fund sign $100m food security agreement

AMMAN — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nasser Shraideh and Director General of the OPEC Fund Abdulhamid Alkhalifa on Tuesday signed an agreement to finance Jordan’s emergency food security project with a total value of $100 million.

Shraideh said that the agreement funds the provision of strategic wheat and barley reserves to enhance Jordan’s food security system and avoid risks that might arise as a result of upheavals in the supply chain and price fluctuations that come as a consequence of global challenges, according to a ministry statement.

The minister expressed the government's appreciation for the OPEC Fund's support to the Kingdom and its ongoing contributions to several development projects.

He stressed the success of the government's policy on food security during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis as it secured enough supplies of main commodities for all consumers, and silos maintained sufficient reserves of wheat and barley. 

Shraideh also expressed the government's aspiration to continue its cooperation with the fund in the next stage of Jordan’s reform efforts, in which talks with fund officials are expected to cover priority programmes and projects of the Economic Modernisation Vision. 

Alkhalifa voiced the fund's keenness to enhance future cooperation with Jordan in all fields, stressing that this agreement will contribute to enhancing food security in the Kingdom and boosting its preparedness in dealing with market shocks, noting that the project’s short-term goal is to mitigate the impact of inflation on food prices. 

The director general also said that this project is part of a four-decade long partnership with Jordan, expressing the fund's pride to have financed 21 projects with a total value of over $475 million in the energy, health and agriculture fields.