Jordanian king to meet Harper

A Jordanian newspaper is reporting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet King Abdullah II, one of his key allies in the fight on terrorism, in Ottawa in the coming days.

The tiny Middle Eastern desert kingdom has been punching above its weight internationally as one of Canada’s top allies in the war against the Islamic State militant group.

Jordan has also borne a heavy load from Syria’s civil war, now in its fifth year, because it hosts an estimated 625,000 refugees. It has a population of eight million.

The newspaper did not say exactly when Abdullah would arrive in Ottawa. The Prime Minister’s Office had no comment.

Abdullah visited Ottawa in 2007, and since then, the monarch and Harper have developed what appears to be a warm relationship.