Italy cancels its due debts on Jordan

The Italian government announced officially the cancellation of the second and last part of the debts it has on Jordan, estimated at 13.68 Jordanian dinars ( USD 19.29 million).

A press statement issued by the Italian embassy in Amman said yesterday that this cancellation falls in the course of a bigger debt agreement on development finalized between Jordan and Italy in June 2000.

Italy abrogated the first part of the debt in April 2003 estimated at 28.7 million dinars.

The statement said that the Italian debt total abrogated sum is 42.4 million dinars. By this agreement the Jordanian debts to Italy is abrogated until August, 2027.

The statement said that what is equal to the second cancelled dept -- and was made in the first part -- will be invested in developmental projects in Jordan and will be agreed upon later between the governments of the two countries. But these projects will be basically in the sectors of health, culture, and the environment and small and intermediate enterprises.

The embassy referred to the consent of the Italian foreign ministry to provide an extra contribution of 895,000 dinars for the project of supporting the small and intermediate size enterprises assigned to the UNIDO by the Italian government.