Germany has long enjoyed close and friendly political relations with Jordan. In 2023, the two countries celebrated 70 years of diplomatic relations. Germany is the country’s second-largest bilateral donor, behind the United States, and is one of Jordan’s most important partners in many fields. Bundeswehr units have been stationed in Jordan since October 2017 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (Global Coalition against Daesh).

Germany is one of Jordan’s prime trading partners, along with the USA, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and China. In 2023, German exports to Jordan equalled 783.8 million euros, and German imports from Jordan 116.3 million euros. An EU-Jordan Free Trade Area has been in place since the entry into force of the Association Agreement with the EU in May 2014.

Jordan is a major host country to refugees from the region. At present, there are some 700,000 refugees in Jordan registered with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), of whom roughly 630,000 come from Syria. An additional 2.3 million Palestinian refugees live in Jordan. The German Government’s humanitarian assistance focuses on food aid, protection and counselling, as well as health.

Jordan is one of the world’s poorest countries in terms of available water resources per capita. Development cooperation focuses on the water supply/waste water sector, education/vocational training and employment.

A bilateral cultural agreement has been in place since 1982. The German-Jordanian University (GJU), which was launched in 2005, is Germany’s biggest university export project in Jordan. Its focus is on engineering subjects and business studies. This Jordanian state university’s curricula and teaching programmes are modelled on those of German universities of applied sciences.

As part of the Schools: Partners for the Future initiative (PASCH), German is taught as a foreign language at six schools in Jordan.

In archaeology, Germany and Jordan have been cooperating closely for many decades. A branch of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology of the Holy Land (DEIAHL), which is also a research unit of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), coordinates joint excavations with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.