The last station of the Commandant’s one week tour of the Middle East region was to the Kingdom of Jordan.
On 18 March, the official programme started with an exchange of views between the Commandant, Lieutenant General Wolf-Dieter Loeser, and the Chief of Operations and Training in the General Staff of the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces, Major General Abdallah Mohammed Al-Muaita. The Commandant was briefed on the most pressing current operational challenges of the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces. This meeting was followed by a visit to the Royal Jordanian National Defense College (RJNDC), where the Commandant addressed both students and staff of the college on NATO’s new Strategic Concept, the co-operation of the Alliance with Jordan and the new Middle East Faculty at the NATO Defense College. Prior to the presentation the Commandant had an office call with the Commandant of the RJNDC, Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Aitan, in which possible areas for an intensified future co-operation were discussed.
A visit to the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy (JID) marked the end of the official programme in Jordan. Here the Commandant and his delegation where met by the President of the JID, His Excellency Ambassador Omar Rifai and selected members of his staff. They had a most fruitful discussion on the importance of a higher participation of Jordanian diplomats in the NDC courses as well as on the current situation in the region. The Commandant and Ambassador Rifai also developed together further areas of co-operation, such as an exchange of lecturers between the two institutions.
The trip of the Commandant and his delegation to the Middle East ended with a short cultural programme, which led the delegation to the ancient city of Petra in the south of Jordan.
Overall, the one week visit to this region can be considered a most successful and enriching experience which offers promising results with regard to areas of future co-operations.
NDC Public Affairs Office
NATO Defense College 
