In preparation for the official launch of the ENPARD South Support Program in Jordan, a preparatory meeting was held on 5 February 2017 in Amman. The meeting gathered several Jordanian stakeholders in agriculture from the various departments of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as representatives of the Jordan Cooperatives Coporation (JCC) and officials of the Department of European Relations of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.

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The main objective of the meeting was to set the priority themes that will be addressed during the 2017 activities and to draw a preliminary calendar. After discussions with the local partners, it was decided to focus on agricultural cooperatives, its development and specialisation in order to use it as a key tool to tackle Jordanian agricultural challenges, notably fragmentation of land. The Jordanian partners have expressed their wishes to benefit from the European experience, and particularly the French one, in this field to initiate the reform of the cooperative system.

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In this context, it was proposed to organise a first workshop to elaborate a diagnosis of the current situation of agricultural cooperatives and to build a 10-year vision for the Jordanian cooperative system. It was suggested to organise this workshop in May.

A second workshop will also be held in September-October 2017 during which participants will focus on developing a strategy and an action plan to implement this vision. Several scenarios could then be proposed in order to fuel the reflection of the Ministry in the perspective of the reform of the cooperative system.