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By Ruben Manahan IV
Open commerce and tourism are potential areas of growth and amity
between Jordan and the Philippines, Jordan Parliament Member Marwan
Sultan, chairman of the Committee on Freedom and Human Rights, said
on Thursday.
At a roundtable with The Manila
Times at the start of a four-day private visit, Sultan said
governments of both countries should encourage official visits to
spur mutual learning of each other’s culture, politics and
economy.
Sultan said the estimated 100 to
200 Jordanians in the Philippines “are happy.”
He asked the Office of the
Honorary Consul of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Michael
Alexander Ang, to listen to the problems of the Jordanian visitors.
Ang said ties between Jordan and
Philippines have been stable for 30 years.
However, he admitted the
challenge of opening up the Jordan job market to Filipino
professionals.
“There are only seven or eight
schools that are recognized by the Jordan government. Workers that
have been sent to Jordan were a mix of house help, workers and
nurses; majority of them came from house help,” Ang said.
Sultan, who described the
Philippines as “paradise,” said his country has successfully
mixed tough security policy and a respect for civil liberties.
Jordan is situated in the middle
of the volatile Middle East region and plays a key role in pushing
peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, via its
alliance with the United States.
Sultan, however, said hopes for
peace remained dim because of the refusal by Israel and world
powers, especially the United States, to recognize the
democratically elected Hamas government.
The US considers Hamas a
terrorist organization.
But Sultan pointed out: “The
Palestine people elected Hamas in fair elections under tight
international monitoring. They [world powers] should respect their
will to appoint Hamas as their government representative.”
Sultan said Jordan now hosts
800,000 to 1 million Iraqi refugees but would remain open to more
despite the heavy toll exerted by the refugee problem on the
country’s resources.
While welcoming Iraqis, the
Jordanian government is hawk-eyed on the issue of possible terrorist
infiltration.
“Jordan security has
100-percent excellent control,” he said. “Any foreigner who
comes to Jordan will realize within a few minutes that our security
is very strong, which is why people cooperate.”
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