Canada pledges funds to Jordan for refugees, security

OTTAWA, Canada - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged $102.2mn (Canadian $122.8mn) Wednesday to help Jordan cope with a massive influx of Syrian refugees and boost its counterterrorism capabilities.

Both Canada and Jordan are part of the US-led military mission targeting the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria with airstrikes.

Jordan has also taken in 1.5 million refugees fleeing fighting in Syria, a number equal to 20-25 percent of its population.

"I keep frightening Americans by saying that's like having 65 million Canadians crossing the border in two years," visiting King Abdullah II told a state luncheon in Ottawa.

According to the United Nations, the conflict in Syria has displaced 7.6 million people over the past four years and created 3.9 million refugees.

The Canadian funding will be used to help Jordanian communities deal with the "socio-economic challenges" of hosting a large group of refugees as well as to bolster Jordan's counterterrorism capabilities, and enhance its border security.

The latter will include providing radiation detection monitoring equipment to mitigate trafficking of nuclear materials, enhancing border screening of vehicles, and provide training in detection and detonating of improvised explosive devices.

Canada will also deliver equipment, training and infrastructure upgrades to boost Jordan's maritime counterterrorism capacity and help create financial safeguards to try to prevent the IS group from accessing the international banking system.