Special Envoy Rayburn Travel to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan
![Jordan [Shutterstock]](https://2017-2021.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Jordan-2106x1406.jpg)
International Travel Information
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International Travel Information: Learn MoreHighlights
U.S. Relationship
U.S.-Jordan Relations
The U.S. deeply values its long history of cooperation and friendship with Jordan, with which it established diplomatic relations in 1949. The U.S. appreciates the leadership role that Jordan plays in advancing peace and moderation in the region. The United States and Jordan share the mutual goals of a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and an end to violent extremism that threatens the security of Jordan, the region, and the entire globe. The peace process and Jordan’s opposition to terrorism parallel and assist wider U.S. interests. U.S. policy seeks to reinforce Jordan’s commitment to peace, stability, and moderation.
U.S. Assistance to Jordan
The United States is Jordan’s single largest provider of bilateral assistance, providing more than $1.5 billion in 2020, including $1.082 billion appropriated by the U.S. Congress to Jordan through USAID in the 2020 fiscal year budget, and $425 million in State Department Foreign Military Financing funds. The United States has also provided nearly $1.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to support Syrian refugees in Jordan since the start of the Syria crisis. In 2018, the U.S. and Jordan signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide $6.375 billion in bilateral foreign assistance to Jordan over a 5-year period, pending the availability of funds. The MOU reinforces the U.S. commitment to broaden cooperation and dialogue between the two countries in a variety of areas. Assistance programs contribute to a strong bilateral relationship centered on a stable, reform-oriented Jordan.
Bilateral Economic Relations
The year 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the first U.S. FTA with an Arab country. The FTA has helped diversify the Jordanian economy while growing bilateral trade between Jordan and the United States by over 800 percent since 2000. The agreement has expanded the trade relationship by reducing barriers for services, providing cutting-edge protection for intellectual property, ensuring regulatory transparency, and requiring effective labor and environmental enforcement. The United States and Jordan have an “open skies” civil aviation agreement; a bilateral investment treaty; a science and technology cooperation agreement; and a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation. Such agreements bolster efforts to help diversify Jordan’s economy and promote growth.
![Jordan Flag: Three equal horizontal bands of black (top), representing the Abbassid Caliphate, white, representing the Ummayyad Caliphate, and green, representing the Fatimid Caliphate; a red isosceles triangle on the hoist side, representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, and bearing a small white seven-pointed star symbolizing the seven verses of the opening Sura (Al-Fatiha) of the Holy Koran; the seven points on the star represent faith in One God, humanity, national spirit, humility, social justice, virtue, and aspirations; design is based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I [CIA World Fact Book]](https://2017-2021.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Jordan-Flag.gif)