AMMAN — The trade volume between
Jordan and India reached $2.716 billion in 2022, recording an “exceptional”
year-on-year growth of 60.13 percent, said Indian ambassador to Amman Anwar
Halim, indicating that the two countries have set a trade target of $5 billion
to reach by 2025.
اضافة اعلان
"Since the first trade agreement
signed between the two countries in 1960, several agreements have followed to
date, enhancing our economic cooperation," the ambassador said in an
interview with the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on the occasion of his country's Republic
Day, which falls on January 26 every year.
Halim stressed that bilateral trade has
grown rapidly despite the global economic downturn, with India emerging as
Jordan’s fourth largest trading partner in 2021.
The
Indian-Jordanian relationship has been
an “ascendant partnership” that continues to grow unabated even during the
difficult times of COVID-19 and the global economic crisis.
Sector partnershipsRegarding the volume of Indian investments
in Jordan, he pointed out that his country’s investments in phosphates and
textiles amount to more than $1.3 billion, where the Jordan Phosphate Mines
Company (JPMC) and the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative have established
a joint venture project worth $860 million for manufacturing phosphoric acid.
The JPMC and the Arab Potash Company have
signed memoranda of understanding and agreements with a number of Indian
fertilizer companies and manufacturers worth $2.5 billion, he added.
Meanwhile, "over 15 garment companies
owned by Indians, with a cumulative investment of around $500 million, are
located in the (Kingdom’s) Qualified Industrial Zones. All finished products
are exported outside Jordan, which amounts to more than one billion dollars’
worth of garments," the envoy said.
Shared values, deepening exchangeCommending bilateral relations, Halim said
that
India considers Jordan an important partner in the region: "Both our
countries are committed to multilateralism, share common concerns in
international fora, and strive for global peace and stability.”
“Our exchanges and interactions have
diversified in terms of depth, substance, and content in recent years," he
noted.
"It is worth mentioning that our
relationship has been an ascendant partnership that continues to grow unabated
even during the difficult times of COVID-19 and the global economic downturn,”
he said. “Today, our ties cover a wide range of areas, including political
cooperation, trade and investment, technology, culture, health,
agri-commodities, textiles,
chemicals and fertilizers, defense and security,
development partnership, and so on."
In view of the continued momentum marked by
regular high-level interactions, reinforced by meetings of His Majesty King
Abdullah and the Indian Prime Minister, the ambassador predicted a “bright”
India-Jordan partnership, noting: "We look forward to further
strengthening and diversifying our closeness in the coming years."
Education, development exchangeIn terms of joint educational, cultural,
and technical cooperation, Halim pointed to the India-Jordan Center of
Excellence in Information Technology (IJ-CoEIT), a state-of-the-art IT facility
established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and fully funded
by the Indian government.
"It is envisioned that 3,000 Jordanian
experts and professionals would be nurtured at the center over a span of five
years,” the envoy said.
Under this participative model, India’s
government is sponsoring training programs for 150 master trainers from Jordan
at premium institutes of technology in India, who in turn would be imparting
further training to Jordanian youth using the facilities at the IJ-CoEIT, thus
making the center completely managed by Jordanian expertise, he added.
The envoy also stressed that India is
committed to sharing its developmental experience with Jordan through
capacity-building programs under the India Technical and Economic Cooperation
program, which is an avenue for strengthening the contact between the two
countries' citizens.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations
offered five annual scholarships to Jordanian students for higher education in
India during the last year, he noted, highlighting that there are over 500
Jordanian students studying in different universities in India.
The total number of Jordanian alumni of
Indian universities stands at over 2,500, he said, noting that the India-Jordan
Alumni Association was launched in August 2022 as a forum bringing together
distinguished Jordanian alumni members who graduated from prominent
universities in India.
Responding to a question about the Indian community
in Jordan, the official mentioned that 15,500 Indians reside in Jordan, working
in textile, construction, manufacturing, and
fertilizer companies, the healthcare
sector, universities, IT, finance, and multilateral organizations.
Global, regional issuesRegarding cooperation in the field of counterterrorism,
Halim said that India is an active participant in the Aqaba process,
emphasizing the importance of the process in facilitating regular and
comprehensive dialogue on counterterrorism among global stakeholders.
On the Palestinian issue, the envoy said:
"India highly appreciates the constructive role and the diplomatic efforts
by Jordan, led by His Majesty, to find a peaceful solution to the Palestine issue."
"India’s ties with the friendly people
of Palestine are rooted in our common history. We have always supported the
Palestinian people in their pursuit of economic and social development with
dignity and self-reliance,” he said. “We are hopeful that direct talks between
the Palestinian and Israeli sides will resume to find a comprehensive and
negotiated solution."
India has also been at the forefront of
extending developmental assistance to Palestine over the years, he stressed,
indicating that "our flagship projects such as India-Palestine Techno
Park, Palestine National Printing Press, and four schools are already
functional, while other projects, including the Palestine Diplomatic Academy,
Women Empowerment Center (Turathi), and a super-speciality hospital are under
implementation.”
“We have substantially enhanced our
contribution to UNRWA in recent years to strengthen its hands for humanitarian
activities," the ambassador noted.
India’s G-20 presidencyIndia has assumed the Presidency of the
G-20, Halim said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasizing that the South
Asian nation’s leadership will be inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and
action-oriented.
"The theme of our G20 Presidency, ‘One
Earth, One Family, One Future’, symbolizes hope and our goal to bring the world
together for global good to shape a new paradigm — of human-centric
globalization," he noted.
"Over the past years, India’s growth
story has been exceptional, including in the fields of agricultural production,
nuclear and space technology, affordable health care, world-class educational
institutions, and biotechnology — to becoming an IT power and having the
third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world," he noted.
India has emerged as the fastest-growing
major economy in the world, the envoy highlighted, saying: "It is expected
to be one of the top three economic powers in the world over the next 10-15
years. We are sincere that all our friendly countries would share this enhanced
prosperity and fruits of our development."
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