JORDAN: NSC DELEGATION DISCUSSES CAIRO INITIATIVES

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002404

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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