His Majesty King Abdullah on Friday held a series of meetings in the Swiss resort of Davos with heads of delegations and senior officials taking part in the 43rd World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.

King Abdullah met with WEF Founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed means of boosting cooperation between the two sides.

The King expressed appreciation for a decision taken by WEF to hold its meeting on the Middle East and North Africa in Jordan during May 24-26 this year.

Schwab voiced appreciation of Jordan’s efforts under the leadership of His Majesty to achieve comprehensive reforms as well as peace and stability in the Middle East.

The King also received President of Iraq's Kurdistan Massoud Barzani and stressed Jordan's keenness to boost relations with Iraq in various domains.

His Majesty stressed Jordan's full support to the Iraqi brethren in their efforts to enhance peace and stability in Iraq.

The King and Barzani also discussed means of boosting relations in the economic, trade and investment fields.

His Majesty met also with Israeli President Shimon Peres and discussed means of supporting peace efforts and putting an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in line with the two-state solution.

The King also met with a US congress delegation led by majority leader Eric Cantor and reviewed Jordanian-US ties as well as the latest developments in the Middle East and efforts to bring peace to the region.

His Majesty also briefed the delegation on Jordan's reform efforts, adding that the parliamentary elections reflected Jordan's seriousness to achieve reforms.

On the Syrian crisis, King Abdullah stressed the need for a political solution that puts an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and preserves Syria's unity.

Members of the delegation hailed the King's efforts to achieve comprehensive reforms.

His Majesty also held a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde during which he expressed appreciation for the IMF's support to Jordan's economic reform program.

Her Majesty Queen Rania, who was accompanying the King on His working visit to Davos, participated in the Global Development Outlook plenary session, which discussed the priorities of the next development agenda after the Millennium Development Goals 2015 deadline.

As a member of the United Nations High Level Panel (HLP) on the post-2015 development agenda, Queen Rania talked about the educational challenges youth face in Jordan and other Arab countries. She stressed the need for educational institutions to provide “quality education.”

Highlighting jobs creation as another key regional priority, Her Majesty pointed out the great significance of supporting entrepreneurship in the Arab world and stressed the urgent need to maximise investments in this sector as it can be a strong engine for employment in the region.

“It's not until we are able to give our young people the skills they need and create opportunity for them that we will see that transition in the Arab world to a better future,” Queen Rania told the panel.

In response to a question, Her Majesty cited examples from Jordan that underscore the importance of teacher training and how it has impacted students positively. “Good teachers teach, great teachers transform,” Her Majesty said.

“From our experience, teacher training is absolutely essential, you have to scale the success up, you have to make sure that governments are involved, you have to make sure that partners and donors stay engaged in order to see the impact,” she said, adding that the role of the public was most important when it makes improving the quality of education a priority.

Other speakers in the plenary session were U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is one of the HLP’s three co-chairs, in addition to HLP member and CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman, and President and CEO of CARE USA, Helen D. Gayle.

The 26-member HLP, appointed by the UN chief last summer to develop “a bold vision” to advise on global development after 2015, is due to submit a report to him in May 2013.

Queen Rania, a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation board, also attended the foundation's annual board meeting.