AMMAN —
Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) and the Makkah Chamber of Commerce &
Industry (MCCI) signed a joint cooperation agreement in the Saudi city of Mecca
during a visit by the Jordanian economic and industrial delegation, with the
participation of Minister of Industry and Trade Yousef Shamali, according to
the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
The delegation, including JCI president,
Fathi Jaghbir and more than 50 Jordanian industrial companies, discussed ways
to make use of the two countries’ available economic opportunities, through
inking trade agreements that guarantee mutual benefits, according to a JCI
statement on Sunday.
In addition, the two sides discussed the
possibility of increasing the number of transit visas for Jordanian trucks
heading to the
UAE, excluding Jordan from Saudi Arabia’s projected plans to
replace imported products, and finding mechanisms to help the Jordanian
industrial sector through supporting contacts with major shopping centers and
commercial agents in Saudi Arabia.
Discussions also stressed the importance of
supporting the launch of commercial-industrial integration and investment
coalitions between the two countries’
private sectors and opening greater
channels of communication through the Saudi embassy in Jordan with respect to
the Saudi government’s trade decisions, the JCI statement added.
On development of Jordan’s national exports
to
Saudi Arabia, the delegation said that this effort comes in light of the
volume of Saudi investments in Jordan that amounted to about $10 billion by the
end of 2019, adding that a large amount of investments are geared towards the
transportation, infrastructure, energy, commercial and tourism construction
sectors, the statement noted.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Jaghbir said
that the public and private sectors’ partnership increases opportunities,
adding that the delegation’s visit will have “positive and promising” outcomes
in the future.
Jaghbir announced the appointment of liaison
officers in JCI headquarters to follow up on the outcomes of the economic
delegation’s visit to Saudi Arabia, referring to “promising”
cooperation opportunities between the two countries’ private sectors.
The economic delegation also discussed ways
to promote Jordan’s national exports, especially in the food retail sector to
the Saudi market, as the “largest in the region,” according to Jaghbir.
To help remove trade-related obstacles,
Jaghbir said that the delegation discussed facilitating access of Jordanians to
entry visas to Saudi Arabia, based on the JCI’s letters of recommendation and
mutual recognition of health certificates issued by the
Jordan Food and Drug Administration.
The volume of Jordanian-Saudi trade exchange dropped in
2020 by 25.7 percent to reach nearly $3 billion, while the trade balance
recorded a deficit of about $1.3 billion in 2020, according to official data,
due to a rise in the volume of Jordanian national exports to Saudi Arabia by
nearly 5 percent to reach approximately $813.5 million in 2020, and a drop in
the volume of Jordanian imports from the Saudi market, which decreased by about
34.2 percent.
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