Economists have agreed that investment is Jordan's strategic choice for achieving sustainable economic growth and providing job opportunities, in line with the economic modernization vision.
اضافة اعلان
They told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that Jordan possesses investment advantages that attract both local and foreign investments, including its geographic location, human resources, and supportive legislation. This requires focusing on promising sectors and supporting their expansion.
They called for a series of measures and reforms to enhance the business environment, most notably simplifying the procedures for establishing projects and launching a comprehensive investment map that identifies priorities and potential opportunities within the kingdom.
Achieving the economic modernization vision requires attracting investments and financing worth 41 billion dinars, most of which will come through local and foreign direct investments and public-private partnerships.
The President of the Jordan Investors Association, Mujahid Al-Rajbi, stated that investment is Jordan's only option for achieving economic growth and creating job opportunities, especially given the economic challenges facing the country. He emphasized that investment is the most important strategic option to drive economic growth and job creation.
He pointed out that, due to limited natural resources, Jordan relies on an attractive investment environment based on its geographic location, qualified human resources, and supportive legislation for investment projects.
Al-Rajbi stressed that achieving this requires improving the business environment and legislation, easing bureaucratic procedures, speeding up licensing processes, providing clear and transparent investment incentives, and reviewing investment and tax laws to make them more regionally competitive.
He also highlighted the need to strengthen public-private partnerships, activate cooperation in sectors such as renewable energy, manufacturing, technology, and support for pioneering projects and national industries, as well as offering accessible financing and tax incentives for start-ups.
Additionally, Al-Rajbi emphasized the importance of boosting local manufacturing, providing export opportunities, leveraging international trade agreements, facilitating access for Jordanian products to global markets, and enhancing trade relations through free trade agreements. He also pointed to the need to develop and qualify the workforce, update education and training curricula to meet the needs of investment sectors, and support specialized training programs in collaboration with investors.
Al-Rajbi noted that achieving effective investment requires launching a comprehensive investment map that identifies priorities and promising opportunities across different governorates, improving digital and logistical infrastructure to support the digital transformation of businesses, and accelerating industrial and developmental zone projects to provide an integrated business environment for investors.
For his part, Mohammad Al-Qaryouti, a member of the Jordanian Economic Forum's board of directors, emphasized that both local and foreign investments are crucial for economic growth as they contribute to development in various economic sectors.
Al-Qaryouti explained that local investment is vital because it is not speculative or migratory, while foreign investment may follow this path, seeking profit and competitive advantages. He also pointed out that local investment, while considering these factors, remains stationary in its place of investment.
He stressed the importance of focusing on promising sectors, especially those with rapid growth, such as the industrial sector, which has demonstrated significant achievements in record time, expanded into foreign markets, and increased the self-sufficiency rate. He also mentioned the commercial sector, which serves as a tool for marketing production and improving exports.
Al-Qaryouti further emphasized that service sectors, technology, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and construction are all continuously growing sectors that provide more job opportunities, especially in the rapidly growing field of entrepreneurship for young people.
He noted that investment requires stability in legislation and laws, the presence of cumulative privileges, and the assistance of various relevant institutions in opening new markets, maximizing products and services, and marketing them globally.
Al-Qaryouti stated that human resources are one of Jordan's strengths, with over 60% of the workforce being young and capable, making them a vital tool in managing investments. He emphasized the need to support continued foreign investment attraction and provide the necessary features to make it stable in Jordan.
Meanwhile, Dr. Reem Al-Bghdadi, President of the Jordanian Women Business and Professions Forum, affirmed that investment is the key to achieving economic growth. She called for a series of measures and reforms to enhance the business environment and attract both local and foreign investors.
Dr. Al-Bghdadi stressed the importance of prioritizing improvements in the business environment, particularly simplifying bureaucratic procedures, which are one of the most critical reforms needed to reduce administrative complications and routine procedures that hinder business startups and investment attraction. With the existence of electronic platforms for submitting applications, it has become difficult to communicate with the concerned parties, even though the goal of these platforms is to streamline administrative processes in terms of procedures and time.
She emphasized that simplifying procedures requires integrated efforts, including improving technological infrastructure, reducing bureaucracy, enhancing transparency to build investor confidence, and training employees to improve the efficiency of services provided to investors.
Dr. Al-Bghdadi also highlighted the importance of developing infrastructure through the enhancement of transportation, energy, and communication networks to support investment activities and improve industrial zones and free zones to make them more attractive to investors.
She called for the strengthening of education and vocational training by providing specialized training programs in technical and industrial sectors to qualify local workers in line with market needs.
On his part, economic expert Hossam Ayash stated that investment is one of Jordan's options for achieving economic growth and providing job opportunities, but it is not the only one. He explained that investment is not separate from overall economic performance; the more investment increases, the more it reflects stability, sustainable growth, good credit ratings, and a solid economic performance.
Ayash emphasized that as long as Jordan can create an environment based on accounting, legal, and regulatory standards that encourage investment, it will be more successful in attracting investments.
He added that attracting investment does not only depend on legislation and incentives but also on how to implement various projects from both the public and private sectors, which requires activating partnerships between them.
Ayash also pointed out that investments play a key role in increasing economic growth rates, generating foreign currency income, and providing job opportunities in various sectors, which requires focusing on sectors that meet economic needs.
-- (Petra)
