Prospects for Egyptian-Jordanian cooperation remain hazy
Since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, economic ties have strengthened.
CAIRO — After a year of undeclared tension, Egyptian-Jordanian relations witnessed remarkable developments following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
Jordan did not initially express its reservations after Morsi's election in July 2012. At the time, the Jordanian government welcomed the success of the electoral process in Egypt, without making a clear reference to Morsi. Two days after Morsi’s election, King Abdullah welcomed the move, but a muffled crisis surfaced because of the low flow of Egyptian gas to Jordan.
Less than a month after his election, Morsi met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who expressed his hope to solve the problem of the gas line from Egypt to Jordan, since the decline in gas flow was costing Jordan $5 million a day.
Egypt has been exporting natural gas to Jordan since 2003. After the January 25 Revolution in Egypt, attacks by extremists on the pipeline impacted gas supplies. The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terrorist group, which operates in the Sinai Peninsula, repeatedly claimed responsibility for bombing the pipeline.
