arabianbusiness.com 17
q WE IN JORDAN
HAVE GREAT
ADMIRATION FOR
JAPAN’S ROLE AS A
GLOBAL LEADER”
King Abdullah II of JordanJapanese
grant to
improve waste
managementIraqi shoe-thrower becomes
parliamentary candidate
u Japan has pledged to continue
support for Jordan on Syrian refugees
Baghdad
Ammanq WE HAVE STRENGTHENED OUR
TIES IN EVERY FIELD, INCLUDING
DIPLOMATIC, SECURITY, AND
ECONOMIC COOPERATION”
Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister on his visit to JordanJORDAN IRAQ
JORDAN AND JAPAN SIGNED
a memorandum of
understanding last Tuesday
under which the Jordanian
government will receive a
Japanese grant of $15.3m to
finance a waste management
project for Syrian refugees in
the northern Jordan.
The agreement came
during talks held by
Jordanian Prime Minister
Hani Al Mulqi and Japan’s
Shinzo Abe, who was
visiting Amman along with
an economic delegation
including the heads of major
Japanese industrial and
technological companies.
Al Mulqi and Abe
discussed ways of boosting
cooperation between the
two countries in various
fields, especially in the areas
of vocational training.
Al Mulqi praised Japan’s
political stance on regional
issues and its support for
establishing security and
stability in the region and
the world, and noted its
continuous stand with
Jordan and supporting its
positions on various issues.
He added that the hosting
of more than 1.3 million
Syrian refugees had taken its
toll. “We must necessarily
undertake economic
and financial reforms to
stimulate economic growth.”$14m
Japan’s emergency aid
package for refugees in
Jordan, Syria and LebanonIN FOCUSu Nearly 4,000 ill-gotten artifacts will be returned to Iraq, the US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement has announced.The Iraqi journalist who rose to
prominence by hurling a shoe
at then US president George W.
Bush during a press conference
a decade ago is now putting
himself in the running for a
political career of his own.
Muntazer Al Zaidi is a
candidate for a parliamentary
seat in Iraq’s forthcoming
elections. He is competing for
the Sa’eroun group, a political
alliance formed of six parties
that has promised to combat
corruption and to promote
greater integrity, transparency
and good governance.
Back in 2008, Al Zaidi was
sentenced to three years in
prison for his shoe-based
protest, although it was
eventually reduced to one year.
He served nine months before
being granted a conditionaldischarge. Now 39, he has
returned to the country having
lived much of the intervening
period in Beirut.
Far from running away from
his past, Al Zaidi is actually
using his 2008 protest against
Bush to gather support, posting
the video of the incident to his
Facebook campaign page.
“I don’t have any issue
with America or Americans,”
Al Zaidi told CNN last week.
“My only issue is with the former
president George W. Bush.
He occupied my country and
he killed my people.
“If I become prime minister,
then the fi rst thing I will do
is to ask the US to offi cially
apologise to all Iraqis, to
compensate the victims and
hold former president George
W. Bush accountable.”