His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday said Jordan’s highest national priority, “my highest priority, is a better life for our people”.

Inaugurating the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) 27th Annual Meeting and Business Forum at the King Hussein bin Talal Convention Centre at the Dead Sea, King Abdullah said in a keynote speech, attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, that Jordan is going in the right direction.

“One clear indicator is the fact that over the last 10 years, Jordan has continued to move forward, even while coping with external challenges, ranging from global financial and energy crises, to regional turmoil, to the Syrian refugee crisis, with its enormous burden on our people and treasury,” His Majesty said at the opening session of the EBRD meeting, held for the first time in in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.

“Jordan’s resilience is sustained and energised by a heritage of consensus-building, and national unity, and strong values of moderation, tolerance, and mutual respect,” the King affirmed at the meeting, held this year by the EBRD and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation under the theme “Energising Economies”.

“Our history has led us to turn challenges into opportunities, and turn opportunities into more opportunities. This is the path to our future, and the hope for our region as well,” His Majesty told an audience of some 2,000 people, including representatives of the EBRD’s 68 shareholders, senior officials, business leaders, diplomats, and representatives of international organisations.

The King stressed that Jordan’s economic programme rests, first, “on our greatest national asset, the talented, aspiring Jordanian people, the vast majority of whom are young”, noting that investment in youth and innovation, has helped Jordan become a pioneering regional leader in ICT, start-ups, and the creative industries.

“Our second great asset is Jordan’s geo-strategic, gateway position connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa,” His Majesty added, pointing to the multiple free-trade agreements Jordan has signed.

“So today, Jordan’s forward-looking economic growth plan focuses on high-value-added sectors across our country. We have identified close to $15 billion in public-private partnership opportunities,” the King said.

“Whether it is free-trade-access manufacturing, or green-economy projects, or professional services, or an entirely new opportunity that you create: Jordan is open for business,” His Majesty asserted.

Praising the EBRD, which has invested in 38 projects in the Kingdom, as a “true partner in Jordan’s economic journey”, the King highlighted initiatives with the Bank in green development, innovation, and enhancing the business environment.

“Joint enterprises thrive when partners invest their hearts and talents and resources into success… Today, there are tremendous opportunities to help our countries and peoples. With our partnerships, with our investments, we can be confident of success,” His Majesty affirmed.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony, as current chairman of the EBRD Board of Governors and as Jordan’s governor on the board, Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury said the EBRD’s investments, since expanding its operations into the southern and eastern Mediterranean in 2012, have “crossed 7 billion euros, providing funding to 180 investment and infrastructure projects, of which 70 per cent are delivered as [public-private-partnerships]”.

“EBRD’s partnership with Jordan has been a true success… with investment reaching 1.3 billion euros,” the minister said, citing renewable energy projects, and support to partly mitigate burdens of the refugee crisis in water and municipal services.

Fakhoury also noted the EBRD’s overall “strong operational performance in 2017”, with 9.7 billion euros of annual business investment provided to 412 projects across 36 different countries.

For his part, EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said: “Our work in the Kingdom has been an amazing success story. We have invested over 1 billion euros in just over five and a half years.”

“That we have done so is testament to the outstanding leadership and vision of His Majesty, his guidance of an excellent ministerial team and the bold entrepreneurial culture for which Jordan is celebrated across this region and beyond,” the EBRD president affirmed.

“Success in Jordan mirrors the EBRD’s achievements across the whole of this region,” he continued, where business has grown from zero to around 7 billion euros in five and a half years.

The EBRD, established in 1991 and headquartered in London, expanded into the southern and eastern Mediterranean region at the request of the international community following political upheavals in the Arab world in 2011 and began investing there in 2012, initially in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The Bank opened an office in Amman in 2013, and it has recently expanded its operations to Lebanon and started investing in the West Bank and Gaza.

The opening ceremony on Wednesday also included the screening of a short video highlighting the EBRD’s investments and projects in countries of operation, and Jordanian choir Dozan wa Awtar performed an a cappella medley of Arabic and international folk songs.

During its meetings in Jordan, the EBRD’s Board of Governors, which defines the Bank’s strategy, will discuss global challenges hindering economic growth and means to bolster business environments in countries of operation.

The EBRD’s Annual Meeting and Business Forum also includes a number of country-focused investment outlook sessions, featuring a host country investment outlook session for Jordan on “Fostering Investment, Trade and Innovation throughout the Region and Beyond”, which will be held on Thursday.