The King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD) has signed a cooperation agreement with Jordan Oil Shale Company (Josco), to finance the graduation projects of outstanding Jordanian public and private university students in the areas of environment, water, energy and geology fields. 

By virtue of the cooperation agreement, Josco, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, will dedicate JD60,000 ($84,498) to fund approximately 12 graduation projects from various Jordanian universities.

The financing process will follow the same mechanism used in The King Abdullah II Fund for Development’s (KAFD) graduation projects’ support program, which was launched in 2004 in partnership with the Scientific Research Center of the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB).
 
To date, KAFD has financed 146 graduation projects that have benefited a total of 477 students. The newly signed agreement is expected to further raise the number of students benefiting from the programme, a statement from the company said.

KAFD executive director Tarik Awad, JOSCo general manager Thomas Meijssen, and Natural Resources Authority director general Mousa Al Zyoud, signed the agreement on behalf of the Jordanian government. 

“We are very proud to be collaborating with JOSCo. The signing of this agreement testifies the longstanding success of the graduate projects’ support program and affirms KAFD’s belief in the effectiveness of partnering with private sector companies to provide financial and technical support,” said Awad.

“In addition to backing programmes that hone Jordanian students’ research and development skills, Shell’s support in financing graduation projects reflects the company’s strong commitment to social responsibility through promoting creativity and excellence in scientific research. Such efforts direct students’ interests towards vital sectors like energy, water and environment which are crucial to Jordan’s sustainable development.”

“Our social investments are integral to our activities in Jordan. We believe in sustainable development principles and we hope that our contribution will help nurture local capabilities in the shale oil industry and other key industries in Jordan,” Meijssen said.

“This cooperation agreement represents the first of several of JOSCo’s social investment projects in the areas of HR capacity building, environmental preservation and traffic safety that the company aims to support in partnership with different entities specialised in local community development,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service