Jordan and France signed Friday an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Jordanian counterpart Salaheddine al-Bashir signed the deal in Amman, where the top French diplomat stopped on his Mideast tour.
The agreement says France will help create nuclear reactors to be used for electricity production, desalination of sea water, and also train Jordanian nuclear scientists and help in uranium extraction. Uranium is abundant in the desert country.
Jordanian Nuclear Energy Commissioner Khaled Toukan told reporters that "an executive protocol" will be signed between the two nation's within a month, to follow up Friday's agreement.
The two also signed "a strategic agreement" to exchange views on the political situation in the region. Kouchner said this includes "thoughts in the military and nuclear fields."
Separately, Kouchner also spoke about France's announcement to take in Iraqi Christians refugees. He said that France "will do its utmost" to take in about 500 Iraqi Christians because of the oppression of some Christians in Iraq _ a situation that he said has gone on for "long years."
"We are very concerned about all the violations of human rights against the people of the Middle East, particularly the Christians," he said, without naming any countries.
