The 6th meeting of the EU-Jordan Joint Steering Committee Meeting (JSCM)

The 6th meeting of the EU-Jordan Joint Steering Committee Meeting (JSCM) was held in virtual mode on 27 April 2023. The meeting was opened by the Director of Global Approach and International Cooperation at DG Research and Innovation, Ms. Maria Cristina Russo along with Prof. Dr Abdullah Al Musa, Secretary General of the Higher Council of Science and technology of Jordan and co-chair, with the EU of the Union for the Mediterranean Regional Dialogue Platform on Research and Innovation. The meeting was preceded in the morning by the EU-Jordan Sub-committee on Research & Innovation, also in hybrid format, organised by the European External Action Service during which DG Research and Innovation shortly provided an overview of the latest policy developments on R&I Regional cooperation and on the participation of Jordan to R&I Framework Programs and other bilateral cooperation initiatives.

The JSCM represented an important opportunity to have an overall update on the most recent policy developments in Research & Innovation (R&I) and discuss the potential interest for Jordan of several partnerships, such as the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), missions and initiatives along the main thematic priorities for the cooperation in the region (Climate Change, Health, Renewable Energies).

Director Russo mentioned in her opening the main political frameworks of the EU cooperation in R&I in the region defined in the EU’s strategy with the Southern Mediterranean region adopted in February 2021 and the Global Approach to Research and Innovation that sets out the EU’s vision for future R&I cooperation and that prioritises the Mediterranean Region.

The EU praised the Jordanian Co-Presidency for the positive role played during all these years in the UfM R&I Platform, ensuring the Southern co-ownership to our R&I cooperation that brought us to the adoption, last year, of a Ministerial Declaration endorsing the Research Roadmaps along the 3 priorities for cooperation and committing to mobilise the necessary resources for their implementation including from Horizon Europe and the largest R&I partnership in the region,

The EU expressed its strong commitment to strengthen the participation of Jordan in the existing opportunities under Horizon Europe and beyond, particularly the Mediterranean Initiative that was presented, and it was agreed to organise a specific national info-session on the opportunities, and proposal writing dedicated to the Jordanian R&I national and local stakeholders in the coming months;

The discussion focused on the activity to strengthen the cooperation along the 3 priorities of climate change, Health and Renewable Energies.

On maritime and water discussion focused on the continued cooperation in the framework of the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” and its Mediterranean zero pollution lighthouse and the Blue Economy Partnership.

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International cooperation with Jordan