President of Ireland, Mrs. Mary McAleese received the Amman Golden Key from Mayor of Amman, Engineer Nidal Hadid. The receipt took place during a special ceremony held at the City Hall of Greater Amman Municipality on Wednesday, when Mrs. McAleese visited GAM as part of her visit to Jordan.
McAleese expressed her delight in visiting Amman and for the warm welcome she has received by Mayor of Amman and GAM officials. She also expressed her appreciation and admiration of the remarkable development in Amman on all aspects, notably the cultural, architectural and urbane ones.
McAleese said that she felt of the grandness in visiting Amman and the City Hall, which reflects hopes of the human civilization and respect of the past. She noted that the name of Amman resembles the secured place where history reminisces the hardships and conflicts that affected nations in the region for decades. These nations, she said, had triumphed in overcoming the conflicts towards achieving success and development.
Hadid, on his part, delivered a speech in which he stated, “In our Arab culture, we say that the key to the house is kept only by the family, and those who have the same standing as family members in esteem, trust and affection. In that spirit, it gives me great honor to present you with the key to the city of Amman, the capital of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The doors of our city will always be open to our Irish family and friends.”
Hadid went on saying that Jordan and Ireland have much in common. “Two relatively small countries, with big ideas and hopes. In Jordan, we share this spirit of confidence, commitment and determination to succeed.”
Hadid expressed his hope to see the visit by Mrs. McAleese “will be a fruitful opportunity to discover and reinforce people-to-people and city-to-city relations. We must work together as true partners and friends. We look forward to advancing our relationships with Irish cities culturally, intellectually, commercially and socially.” Hadid indicated, “Such relationships, one city at time, one country at a time, will do many wonders to bring the world closer together.”
Meanwhile, a documentary was screened during the welcome ceremony in which Mrs. McAleese was briefed about the history of Amman, its civilizations and development process over the decades until the current times.