Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordanian Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah asserted on Tuesday the importance of uniting efforts of both countries to address the regional challenges, especially in Libya and Syria.
Al-Sisi received the Jordanian Crown Prince at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, to discuss ways to enhance aspects of bilateral cooperation, especially with regard to cooperation in the fields of tourism, economy, trade exchange, and small and medium enterprises.
Al-Hussein conveyed greetings of Jordanian King Abdullah to President Al-Sisi, expressing his country’s appreciation for the Egyptian leadership and people.
He asserted Jordan’s keenness to enhance joint coordination with Egypt to deal with the various crises in the Middle East region, which threaten the security and stability of the Arab peoples, hailing Egypt’s pivotal role in serving Arab causes and its efforts to strengthen Arab solidarity.
They also discussed ways to combat terrorism and extremist ideology, and exchange experience of the two countries in the field of empowering women and youth.
Al-Sisi praised the participation of Jordanian Crown Prince in several sessions of the World Youth Forum, stressing Egypt’s keenness to strengthen this important forum because it provides an opportunity for Egyptian youth to learn the national programmes Egypt implements.
Al-Sisi asserted that Youth Forums help Egyptian youth directly interact with Arab and foreign youth, exchange ideas, and be open to different cultures.
Both sides have also agreed on the importance of working together to revive the peace process between Palestine and Israel in order to reach a just and comprehensive two states solution and guarantee the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
They also discussed ways to enhance cooperation with Iraq within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism. Both sides asserted Egypt and Jordan’s fully support for Iraq in its fight against terrorism in order to achieve stability.
Later, Al Hussein met with Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, in the presence of Jordanian Prime Minister Bishr Al-Khasawneh. They witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to support SMEs in the two countries.
Madbouly noted that the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) succeeded in providing the necessary funding for citizens to set up projects, and facilitating steps to obtain funding, as it contributed to creating about 2.3 million job opportunities.
For his part, Al-Khasawneh expressed Jordan’s aspiration to benefit from the Egyptian expertise in the SMEs field.
During the meeting, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevin Gamea presented the most important activities and services provided by the Enterprise Development Agency, indicating that the agency is the authority concerned with the development of enterprises, and entrepreneurship in Egypt, by providing a package of financial and non-financial services.
She said that MSMEDA pumped a total funding estimated at EGP 37.6bn during the period from July 2014 to September 2021, in the form of loans to finance infrastructure projects, community development, and training courses which contributed to creating about 2.3 million job opportunities.
Prince Al Hussein and the Egyptian and Jordanian Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Enterprise Development Authority and the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO), to support the enterprise sector in Egypt and Jordan.
The memorandum of cooperation aims to develop SMEs through the exchange of experience and information between the two sides, holding training courses and joint exhibitions for project owners, as well as exchange programmes to spread the culture of self-employment, and to identify opportunities for commercial integration between the two countries.
