New king flies to Germany at start of first trip to West

Jordan's King Abdullah is today visiting Germany, the current holder of the European Union Presidency, to secure support for the cancellation of half his country's $6.8 billion foreign debt ahead of the meeting of the G7 industrialised nations in June.

During this, his first Western tour since assuming the throne in February, the 37-year-old monarch will also travel to Britain, the US and Canada.

The king has pointed out that servicing the foreign debt costs Jordan $850 million annually, 27 per cent of its budget, and he pledged that the sum saved by any cancellation would be spent on social programmes. He is opening his campaign in Germany because Europe, Jordan's largest creditor, would have to bear most of the "debt forgiveness".

While Abdullah, the eldest son of the late King Hussein, was groomed for a military career, not kingship, his political astuteness has surprised Jordanians and Arabs as well as the international community. Mr Kamal Abu Jaber, a former Jordanian foreign minister, told The Irish Times: "The king is doing very well on both the domestic scene and in foreign affairs. Although he has little experience himself, he has the wisdom to take advice."

The king has given priority to his country's ailing economy where growth has slowed to 2 per cent per annum, 27 per cent of the workforce is unemployed and 30 per cent of the people live below the local poverty level.

The king made his first tour abroad to Egypt, Libya and the Gulf with the aim of restoring Jordan to the Arab fold, consolidating Arab unity and securing Arab financial aid. He next paid a landmark visit to Damascus where he repaired Jordan's strained relations with Syria.

King Abdullah has invited Iran's President, Mr Muhammad Khatami, to visit Amman in the near future in an effort to restore relations with Tehran, broken when Jordan backed Iraq in the 1980-88 war. To balance the opening towards Tehran, the king continues to call for the early lifting of sanctions on Iraq.

Finally, he has responded to popular demand by distancing Jordan from Israel until there is progress in the peace process.

The king confessed last week that he felt his father, who ruled for 47 years, was still being treated for cancer in the US and "we're holding the fort until he's back".