AMMAN, 8 May 2004 — The Jordanian government on Thursday expressed deep gratitude for Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend for another year an oil grant of 50,000 barrels per day to Jordan that had expired in the first week of April.
“The Jordanian government highly appreciates the Saudi gesture and the support extended to Jordan by the brethren in the sister Kingdom,” Minister of State and official government spokesperson Asma Khader said while revealing the Saudi decision.
“The extension of the Saudi oil grant will have a positive impact on the Jordanian economy” that suffered a lot from the offshoots of the US-led war on Iraq, once Jordan’s top trade partner, she added.
The pro-government daily Al-Rai echoed Khader’s remarks, saying the Saudi move “reflects the genuine brotherly and Pan-Arab pattern pursued by the Saudi leadership, and lays the groundwork for more bilateral ties to emerge as a model to be followed in inter-Arab relations.”
According to official sources, talks are currently under way between the Jordanian government and both Kuwait and UAE to convince them to also renew their oil grants which total 25,000 bpd each.
The oil donations by the three Arab Gulf states, amounting to 100,000 bpd, were intended to compensate Jordan for an oil grant worth about $300 million, which the former Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein had extended to the country after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.