JORDAN: NSC DELEGATION DISCUSSES CAIRO INITIATIVES

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002404 NOFORN SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO NEA/ELA, MEPI, NEA/PPD, S/P, AND R E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2019 TAGS: EAID PREL OEXC SOCI JO SUBJECT: JORDAN: NSC DELEGATION DISCUSSES CAIRO INITIATIVES REF: AMMAN 1676 Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d) ¶1. (SBU) A five-member delegation led by NSC Senior Director for Global Engagement Pradeep Ramamurthy visited Jordan from October 6-9 to discuss initiatives laid out in the President's June 4 speech in Cairo. The delegation also included representatives from the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff, NEA/PI and R/PPR. ¶2. (SBU) In-house meetings included sessions with the reduced Country Team, USAID, the regional Environment Science and Technology Hub officer, Public Affairs, and the Middle East Partnership Initiative coordinator. Discussions focused on current Jordanian and Mission activities in key areas for engagement laid out in the Cairo speech, as well as potential for broadening these efforts, as described earlier this year in reftel. The delegation also met with local contacts involved in civil society and interfaith dialogue, exchange programs, workforce development, entrepreneurship and science and technology, who expressed the following: --Interfaith Dialogue/Outreach to Muslims: In a coffee at the DCM's residence, community leaders, professors and Islamic Studies students praised the President's Cairo speech and its focus on renewing the relationship between the U.S. and Muslim communities around the world. They expressed eagerness in concrete mechanisms to facilitate a fair, balanced dialogue with the U.S., especially to calibrate U.S. perceptions of Islam and the Middle East and to get a better understanding of this partnership. --Educational Exchanges: In meetings at the office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative Alumni (MEPI) coordinator, alumni asserted that Jordanians who have returned from U.S. exchange programs are natural allies and have effectively shared their experience with their fellow citizens, including those from isolated areas who assist in community organizing. MEPI alumni have been particularly active in organizing community outreach projects and involving Jordanian youth in alumni activities. Separately, alumni of the office of Educational and Cultural Affairs voiced a desire to leverage their U.S. experiences more effectively to contribute to needs in Jordan. --Workforce Development: USAID hosted an off-site discussion on workforce development for delegation member Greg Behrman of the Secretary's Policy Planning staff. Jordanian business leaders and USAID-supported workforce development projects emphasized the critical need to develop both technical and "soft" skills in young Jordanians seeking employment in competitive industries such as tourism and IT. Lack of "soft" skills such as the ability to work effectively in teams was cited as a major barrier to youth employment. To address this challenge, USAID is serving thousands of Jordanian youth--85,000 total last year--with capacity-building training, internship experiences, and job opportunities through its education and economic growth portfolios. Jordan's growing youth population and the related issue of rising urban poverty form major pillars of USAID's development program. --Entrepreneurship: At a lunch for Science and Technology entrepreneurs and in a meeting with alumni from the Middle East Entrepreneur Training, contacts expressed renewed optimism in U.S. support to the Middle East and voiced appreciation for a U.S. focus on economic development opportunities. They highlighted several obstacles to regional economic development and entrepreneurship, including: a lack of education/training, a lack of an entrepreneurial spirit that led most graduates to seek stable government jobs, a fear of failure and taking risks, the lack of access to capital, a lack of sustainability, and an increased need for mentoring and networking. Entrepreneurs sought U.S. support for training and technology and financial assistance for innovative research and development. --Science and Technology: At a roundtable, leading S&T experts spoke of the support that Jordan is offering scientists through the Royal Scientific Society and the Higher Council for Science and Technology. They noted that despite the number of S&T graduates in Jordan, the country lacked a mechanism to nurture scientists and engineers, which led the most qualified Jordanians to go abroad for work. Experts sought improved access to funding programs for training, research and scholarships for Jordanians to study abroad to improve the efforts of scientists here. AMMAN 00002404 002 OF 002 ¶4. (S/NF) In in-house meetings, delegation members expressed particular interest in initiatives being led by the regional U.S. Environment, Science and Technology Hub officer (such as the proposed Arab American Science Partnership), Embassy engagement with Islamists, ongoing entrepreneurship and job creation programs, including USAID's Jordan Business Development project (otherwise known as SABEQ),and education and exchanges. In coming weeks, Post plans to send in a series of primers via septels laying out how Jordan and the Mission are engaged and suggestions on how these initiatives could be broadened and strengthened. ¶5. (U) NSC members of the delegation cleared this cable. Beecroft