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Canada is giving the Middle Eastern country of Jordan an additional $13 million to help deal with a crush of Syrian refugees.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced the aid after meeting with senior Jordanian officials, including the country’s King Abdullah, on Sunday.

“Jordan has consistently demonstrated a leadership role in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and it continues to lead in the face of the ongoing crisis in Syria,” Baird said in a statement.

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The new diplomatic office will be an offshoot of Canada’s embassy in Amman, Jordan, and will operate out of the British embassy in Baghdad, Baird said. Canada has not had an ambassador formally accredited to Iraq since 1991, although the embassy in Jordan was tapped to assume responsibility for Iraq in 2005.

The Baghdad office will be run by charge d’affairs Stephanie Duhaime, who served previously in Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Syria and who played a role in developing NATO and Canadian counter-insurgency efforts in Afghanistan in 2009-2010.

She is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

“Today’s opening is a historic milestone in Canadian relations with Iraq and comes at a pivotal moment,” Baird said. “Ten years after the Iraqi intervention, Iraq is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, despite deep and lingering sectarian tensions.”

He acknowledged there are many challenges in a troubled country which lies at a crossroads of serious international security challenges.