His Majesty King Abdullah has urged representatives of the US film industry and television and cinema production to benefit from investment opportunities in the Kingdom and to tap Jordanian human resources’ potentials in this domain.

During two separate meetings with Arab film producers and leaders of digital media in Los Angeles Thursday, King Abdullah urged them to cooperate with their counterparts in Arab countries, particularly Jordan, to present films that convey Arab values to the world and reflect young people’s concerns.

His Majesty called for establishing partnerships with international film companies for filmmakers in Jordan to benefit from the abundant expertise in Los Angeles, noting that international companies can utilise the Kingdom’s capabilities for on-location shooting.

The King highlighted the role of the Royal Film Commission, since its establishment in 2003, in training thousands of Jordanians on working in the film industry, a Royal Court statement said.

Jordan has produced 150 films since the commission’s establishment, compared with only five before 2003, His Majesty said.

The Kingdom, he added, is also among pioneering Arab countries in digital content production, producing 75 per cent of online Arabic content.

Jordan’s experts, with their talents and capabilities, can be employed to serve the film industry in the region, the King said.

For their part, the Arab film producers attending the meeting expressed their keenness on exploring opportunities to develop Arab filmmaking, starting from Jordan.

The Kingdom, with its landscapes, and cultural and natural diversity can be a leader in film and television content, they said, suggesting the organisation of a Jordanian film festival to bring international attention to the country’s potential and attract international companies to shoot their projects there.

At his meeting with leaders of digital media, His Majesty highlighted Jordan’s competitiveness in the information and communications technology sector and in digital media, noting that the Kingdom serves as a promising regional hub in this field.

Young Jordanians have the qualifications and talent required to innovate in implementing entrepreneurial projects, which has made Jordan one of the best 10 countries in facilitating ICT projects, the King said.

He also briefed the gathering on the country’s political and economic reform, which seeks to ensure a favourable business environment, highlighting the envisaged 10-year economy blueprint aimed at developing the country’s capabilities to produce and achieve positive results that meet citizens’ aspirations.

Participants at the meeting, also attended by representatives of local ICT companies, expressed their desire to get further acquainted with investment opportunities in the Kingdom, build partnerships with Jordanian investors and make use of Jordan as a gateway to enter regional markets.

They called for encouraging Jordanian entrepreneurs to benefit from the expertise of US companies, expressing readiness to receive Jordanian students for training.

During his current visit to the US, the King will attend a special conference, held by the Clinton Foundation in New York.

It will represent an opportunity to rally international efforts to support Jordan in shouldering the various burdens resulting from hosting Syrian refugees.

The conference will highlight the impact of the large influx of refugees on the country’s limited resources.

Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq have taken in the majority of the 2.5 million Syrians who fled their country since the onset of the conflict in March 2011, with around 600,000 of them living in the Kingdom, according to UN figures, but unofficial figures suggest they could amount to one million.