The Mayor of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), Yousef Shawarbeh, participated in the Florence Mediterranean Mayors’ Forum, which brought together participants from different parts of the Mediterranean region.
Shawarbeh told participants that the Kingdom received waves of refugees and migrants even though it has limited resources and faces great challenges and pressure with it infrastructure.
He added that Jordan has always been a safe haven, and it will never relinquish these humanitarian responsibilities.
Shawarbeh explained that Jordan is the second largest host of refugees, noting that GAM provides services to its citizens, visitors and refugees who consider Jordan a suitable place to live and work.
During his speech as part of the “Migrations across Mediterranean shores” session, Shawarbeh stressed the importance of boosting cooperation among cities in the region as they recover from the repercussions of the coronavirus crisis. He also pointed out the need to keep pace with the fast growth, improve the quality of life and mitigate the burdens imposed on refugees in the kingdom.
Shawarbeh said Amman had contributed to discussions of the Global Compact for Migration, the International Migration Review Forum and other migration-related meetings of the United Nations, along with its participation in the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM).
“We look forward to further partnering and supporting cities’ capacities, and for the international community and donors to give attention to refugee hosting countries to keep working on their humanitarian cause.”
– Mayor of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), Yousef Shawarbeh
Talks With the Mayor of Florence
The Amman mayor also met the Mayor of Florence, Diane Whalen, who expressed interest in Jordanian culture and support for Amman in terms of migration and refugees issues, which he described as “not an easy task” that Florence had experienced before.
Both parties highlighted the challenge of climate change and Shawarbeh pointed out that Amman had put in place many strategies to deal with the issue of concern.
Source: Petra News
