17/2/2025

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Zeina Toukan signed two agreements with the Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Mr. Walid Shamlan Al-Bahar, to finance the third phase of the public education infrastructure project, worth (10) million Kuwaiti dinars (equivalent to about 32.6 million US dollars), and the rehabilitation of roads and bridges project, worth (10) million Kuwaiti dinars (equivalent to about 32.6 million US dollars).

The signing ceremony was attended by the Minister of Public Works and Housing, Eng. "Ahmed Maher" Abu Al-Saman, the Minister of Education, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Azmi Mahafzah, and His Excellency the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Jordan, Mr. Hamad Rashid Al-Merri.

The agreements are part of the pledge made by the State of Kuwait at the Makkah Summit in 2018 to provide a soft lending program to the Kingdom worth (500) million dollars to implement development priorities that contribute to improving basic services for citizens in several sectors.

The public education infrastructure project agreement aims to meet the needs of vocational educational buildings through the establishment of (5) vocational-technical schools in the governorates of (Irbid, Amman, Ajloun, Karak, and Zarqa), comprising a total of 108 classrooms, the project will raise the level of vocational-technical education for students in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades, by providing appropriate vocational-technical education opportunities and providing additional study seats by building and equipping new vocational schools that contribute to addressing various cases of overcrowding in schools.

The Roads and Bridges Rehabilitation Project Agreement also aims to improve the flow of traffic on roads and bridges safely, the project includes rehabilitation works that include the maintenance of separate parts of roads with a total length of about 2528 kilometers, and the maintenance of several bridges in the northern, central and southern regions, in addition to the rehabilitation of water drainage facilities, and the implementation of traffic safety works.

During the signing ceremony, Minister Toukan expressed thanks and appreciation of the government of Jordanian to the State of Kuwait for the continuous support stemming from the strong bilateral relations and the distinguished partnership with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, as the volume of development cooperation with the Kuwait Fund during the period (1962-2024) amounted to about (2.1) billion dollars, including about (1.33) billion dollars in the form of grants to finance development projects and about (778) million dollars in the form of soft development loans.

For his part, His Excellency the Director General of the Fund stressed the Kuwaiti government's constant interest in providing support for development efforts in Jordan, stressing the continuation of the development partnership between the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Government of Jordan, to enable the government to implement priority economic and development plans and programs and enable it to provide basic services to citizens.