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126 REVERSE LINKAGE creation of development zones, energy and water resources, education, and excellence awards in the public sector. As part of the ongoing cooperation with IsDB, the Jordanian Civil Service Bureau has provided training to the Yemeni Ministry of Civil Service in areas related to the restructuring of the public sector and in the management of human resources. Support and training was also extended to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Morocco focusing on learning from the Jordanian experi- ence in the implementation of educational reform projects as well as in mobilising donors’ resources for facilitating education strategies and projects. As Jordan’s is among the first in the region to set a special economic zone, experts from the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, a world-class business hub that brings together public and private expertise, were seconded to Mauritania to assist in upgrading and building the capacity of the Free Zone Authority and to share best practices. In cooperation with IsDB’s technical arm, training conducted by the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre was given to the Somalian Ministry of Energy and Water Resources on remote sensing and the development of geographic information systems. Another example is the support extended through the King Abdullah II Center for Excellence (KACE), a state- of-the-art institution aimed at promoting the culture of excellence in Jordan and the region through develop- ing excellence frameworks and assessment criteria based on international best practices, assessing organizations’ performance, managing the King Abdullah II awards for excellence and promoting excellence among public, private, business association, educational services providers and non-governmental institutions . KACE’s credentials for promoting performance excellence were shared with Saudi Arabia in 2011, with KACE assist- ing the Kingdom in integrating knowledge into the Al-Taif Award for Outstanding Performance, in addition to passing this experience to other peer institutions within a number of countries in the region. Under the Third Country Training Program (TCTP) scheme, the Government of Jordan has collaborated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and provided a large number of technical training programmes with the purpose of transferring and sharing development experi- ence, knowledge and technology to neighbouring countries and others in the Arab region, namely, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan. A large number of training programmes have been conducted in the of fields of water, electricity, information and communications technology, reproductive health, judicial and legal reforms, police and public secu- rity, agriculture and statistics. Over 2,000 participants have been trained since 2013. Under this type of cooperation, the Government of Jordan was able to contribute to capacity and institutional stability in both Iraq and Palestine. Furthermore, Jordan has always been keen to strengthen its South-South ties and relationships through the conclu- sion of cultural and scientific executive programmes with a large number of countries aimed at promoting cooperation and the exchange of expertise in education, higher educa- tion, research and innovation, among others. KACE welcomes the Ministry of Public Planning and Utilities of Sudan to a training programme Image: Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation