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Britain’s May Begins Mideast Trip, Meets Jordan’s King Abdullah II | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Britain’s PM Theresa May, RT


British Prime Minister Theresa May met Jordan’s King Abdullah II Monday at the start of a three-day trip to the kingdom and Saudi Arabia focused on security and post-Brexit trade efforts.

In Jordan, May is expected to announce that British military trainers will be sent to help the country’s air force fight terror group ISIS.

She will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and Wednesday for talks focused on trade and investment as Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union.

Jordan’s official news agency Petra reported that May met the king shortly after arrival to discuss “military cooperation between both countries”, “the Syrian crisis and peace process”, and “counterterrorism efforts”.

They visited the headquarters of Jordan’s Rapid Response Forces, where May was told about the counterterrorism unit’s missions and training programs as part of the cooperation between both countries, it said.

May said before leaving Britain that it was “clearly in the UK’s security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia”.

May will set out a package of measures to boost cooperation between British forces and the Royal Jordanian Air Force, which along with Britain is part of the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria.

It will include training carried out in Jordan and Britain to help the RJAF “improve its capability” to carry out air strikes against ISIS, she said.

“To tackle the threats we face from terrorism and from geopolitical instability, we must meet them at their source,” May said, describing Jordan as “on the frontline of multiple regional crises”.