Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on Prime Minister’s Visit to Jordan (December 16, 2025)

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this Special Press Briefing by Secretary (South) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. Neena Malhotra, on the ongoing visit of Prime Minister to Jordan.

We also have with us our Ambassador to Jordan, Shri Manish Chauhan, as also we are joined by Joint Secretary who looks after WANA region in the Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. Suresh Kumar.

With that, I invite Secretary (South) for her initial remarks. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

Dr. Neena Malhotra, Secretary (South): Thank you, Randhir. Namaskar. Good morning to all of you.

We are meeting here in Amman as our Honorable Prime Minister is on his visit to Jordan. This visit is very significant as this full-fledged bilateral visit is taking place after a long span of 37 years. As you are aware, this visit also coincides with the 75th anniversary of establishment of bilateral relations between our two countries.

Honorable Prime Minister arrived yesterday in Jordan and was accorded ceremonial welcome at the airport. He, along with the Prime Minister of Jordan, inspected the Guard of Honor at the airport. After brief talks with the Prime Minister of Jordan, they departed for the hotel. And at the hotel, the Indian community and friends of India warmly welcomed the Prime Minister. There was a small cultural program at the hotel to welcome the Prime Minister.

Later in the day, Prime Minister departed for Al Husseiniya Palace. At the palace, he was warmly welcomed by His Majesty King Abdullah II. Prime Minister was accorded a Guard of Honor at the palace. After this, both the leaders had a one-on-one conversation followed by delegation-level talks.

The two leaders exchanged views on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. They warmly recalled their previous meetings and telephonic conversations. The Jordan side conveyed their support for India's fight against terrorism, and condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Prime Minister commended the leading efforts by His Majesty on de-radicalization and as a voice of moderation in the Islamic world.

Both the leaders and friends also discussed ways to further deepen engagement between both countries. They also discussed the significant cooperation between the countries in the field of fertilizers, especially phosphates. As you are aware, Jordan is an important supplier of fertilizers to India, especially phosphate fertilizers. Companies on both sides are in discussion for further investment in Jordan to meet growing need for phosphatic fertilizers in India. Our Prime Minister also proposed doubling of bilateral trade to US$ 5 billion in a span of five years.

On regional issues, the leaders reiterated the importance of peace and stability in the region. In this regard, they welcomed the adoption of Gaza Peace Plan. Prime Minister reiterated India's long-standing position on Palestine.

Today, shortly after this briefing, Prime Minister along with His Majesty King Abdullah II will jointly address the India-Jordan Business Forum, which will be attended by leading business dignitaries from both sides. A huge delegation has travelled from India for this forum. The forum is expected to witness the participation of high-level business delegations from both sides in areas such as fertilizers, textiles and many others, where we have existing engagements to new areas of cooperation, such as the new and renewable energy, IT and health sector.

Later in the morning, Prime Minister accompanied by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is likely to visit Jordan Museum. The museum showcases the history of the country from around the Old Stone Age to the recent times through several chronological and thematic exhibitions. During the visit, several MOUs and agreements have been finalized between the two sides in the fields of energy, digital technology, water management, culture and people-to-people connect.

The MOU on technical cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy will allow both sides to collaborate in the areas of green hydrogen, grid integration and capacity building. The MOU on cooperation in the field of water management and development was also finalized. Jordan being a water scarce country, cooperation in this area becomes very important. The area of cooperation under this MOU includes water saving agricultural technologies, capacity building, climate adaptation and planning, aquifer management, and rainwater harvesting.

The strong cultural relations between the two countries got a further push with the cultural exchange program for the years 2025-29. Both sides also finalized the Twinship Agreement between the site of Petra and Ellora Caves of Maharashtra. Under this agreement, both sides will collaborate towards promoting and enhancing social relations and cooperate in areas such as tourism and culture. In addition, both the countries also agreed on further collaboration in the field of sharing successful digital solutions by finalizing a letter of intent in the same field.

A Joint Statement will be issued after the visit, the text of which will be available on MEA website. The Statement is expected to cover all the areas of bilateral cooperation between our two countries. So, to conclude, I can say that this visit has helped deliver some substantive outcomes and the rich discussions between the two leaders have helped deepen the trust and mutual respect for each other's core national interest. Thank you so much and I will be happy to take a few questions.

Vishal, Doordarshan: Ma'am, Vishal here from Doordarshan. There is a lot of anticipation about the digital transaction, digital payments between the two countries. So, if you could clarify more on that.

Tapas Bhattacharya, Doordarshan:Sir, this is Tapas Bhattacharya from Doordarshan. Sir, also when ma'am spoke about the terrorist aspect of the discussion, could you shed more light on that?

Unidentified Speaker: Good morning. I am from Radio Al Balad. I have two questions.

First, what were the main points discussed with the Jordanian Prime Minister?
And second, will India participate in the Gaza Peace Council? Thank you.

Vinod Kumar, Aakashwani:My name is Vinod Kumar from Aakashwani. In the eight-point vision that was shared by the Prime Minister, he mentioned about civil nuclear cooperation. What are the main elements of civil nuclear cooperation that was discussed yesterday?

Dr. Neena Malhotra, Secretary (South): Let me begin with the terrorism question first. As you know that after the Pahalgam attacks, His Majesty had called our Prime Minister expressing solidarity with India and had conveyed that they reject terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

And the King has been a leading voice. In fact, he is a voice of moderation. He has been known to have substantial work in the area of de-radicalization and counter-terrorism. He is against extremism. He has some very well-known initiatives, in fact, which he has initiated. You know the Aqaba process is a multilateral initiative. India has also been participating in that. There is also World Inter-Harmony Faith Week, which in fact was initiated by UN at the initiative of King Abdullah II.

His messages, you know, his Amman message and also common world message also received very positive responses. So, he is respected the world over and is known the world over for having his views against extremism and terrorism. So, in that context, you know, we appreciate his views and we have been discussing, you know, counter-terrorism with him.

Regarding the digital transaction between the two countries, I think we have signed a letter of intent. You see, India's experience in the digital field is appreciated world over. We have very famous schemes like UPI. We have done Jam - Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile Trinity - which has been used very effectively in governance. We have DBT programs, etc. So, these are the initiatives which attract many developing countries, many of our friendly nations and other nations also. So, we have had, you know, cooperation in the digital field with many countries and Jordan is also keenly interested in this. We also have RuPay card, in fact. My ambassador just told me. So, that also is something which is of immense importance to both the countries.

Regarding the nuclear cooperation, in fact, nuclear energy is supposed to be nowadays a very very clean energy. And there were general discussions with the Jordanian side on the possibility of use of nuclear energy as a clean form of energy. There were no specifics as of now, but they are both of the view that this is a form of energy which can be a very clean form of energy, especially now, when we are talking about climate change, etc.

Regarding discussions with the Jordanian prime minister. In fact, they had discussions generally on the bilateral aspects of our relations. There was interest in basically how to enhance further cooperation in areas such as logistics. There were areas such as education and so many other things, in fact, which we have been discussing generally with Jordan.

Regarding Gaza, you know our position on Gaza. We have welcomed the Gaza Peace Plan and we are happy that the first phase is in force, and we hope that it brings lasting peace to the region. We also participated at the Sharm El-Sheikh conference. We have a longstanding position. We support Palestine issue and we support efforts towards just and durable peace. Anything that builds or contributes towards building just and durable peace in the region, we support those efforts.

Shri Manish Chauhan, Ambassador to Jordan: You know, His Excellency Dr. Jafar Hassan very kindly received Honorable Prime Minister at the airport and then accompanied him to the hotel. All through the way, I am sure they had discussions.

But as we understand, His Excellency Dr. Jafar Hassan was also there at the meeting between the Prime Minister and His Majesty the King. What we understand is the discussions primarily focused on enhancing the economic cooperation between the two countries. We already have substantial economic cooperation and as you mentioned, Secretary also said, Honorable Prime Minister proposed the doubling of the trade between the two countries to $5 billion over next five years.

So the discussions with His Excellency the Prime Minister were primarily focused on enhancing the bilateral cooperation, be it in the economic sphere, there was also discussion on educational, university to university cooperation as well as more joint ventures be it in the logistics as the Secretary said or also in the transport and railroad infrastructure.

So, there is considerable interest in taking this economic partnership in particular, the people to people especially in the education sphere, and also in the research and collaboration exchanging students. So, many proposals were made, and many substantial discussions were held and we look forward to taking them forward on all these aspects.

Unidentified Speaker:Was defense cooperation also part of the discussion? Because from importer India has now become exporter of the arms, and we are exporting to 100 odd countries.

Unidentified Speaker: So the first question was on the technical cooperation in the field of new and renewal energy. Was there any intent from the Jordanian side for that matter? Do they want to join International Solar Alliance? India has been forefront on that and or probably the Global Biofuel Alliance something on that line. Thank you.

Dr. Neena Malhotra, Secretary (South): On defense cooperation, we already have an MOU on defense cooperation with Jordan. Under that we have set up some mechanisms for instance a defense consultative meeting which is in place. They have been meeting regularly. They have had two meetings so far.

We have also had cooperation in the area of training. In fact we have Jordanian defense forces personnel participating in our training programs. We also participate in the SOFEX exhibition and exercise of Jordan and we have received an invite. In fact the Jordanian side this year have extended an invitation for SOFEX 2026 and we are looking at participation positively.

Regarding the energy cooperation and their participation, yes you are right. In fact, Jordan has immense interest in fact has expressed willingness to join International Solar Alliance because solar energy is an important area of cooperation. They have also expressed willingness to join two other global initiatives of India which is Global Biofuels Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. So, we look forward to collaborating with them more under these platforms also. Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So, with that ladies and gentlemen we come to close of this press briefing. Thank you very much for your participation and presence.

Amman
December 16, 2025