Jordan seeks Saudi support for free trade agreement with GCC states
KUNA (Kuwait News Agency) | 29 September 2010
Jordan seeks Saudi support for free trade agreement with GCC states
AMMAN — Jordan will ask Saudi Arabia to intervene with the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to help it sign an agreement on economic cooperation and free trade with GCC member states, said a Jordanian official here Wednesday.
Al-Arab Al-Yawm paper quoted Jordan’s Secretary General of the Industry and Trade Ministry Maha Ali as saying that the agreement would organize economic and trade relations and would replace mutual trade agreements.
It would also help in overcoming difficulties facing commercial exchange between Jordan and the GCC states, creating joint investment opportunities, and easing the movement of capital and workers, she added.
The request will be delivered to the Saudi side in a meeting that will be held in Amman on Sunday as part of the meetings of the 13th session of the Jordanian-Saudi joint committee, which will be chaired by Jordan’s Industry and Trade Minister and Saudi Transport Minister Jubarah Al-Suraysiri, she said.
In the meetings, the two sides will discuss reinforcing economic, trade, and investment ties, commercial cooperation like increasing Jordanian exports, and easing the movement of goods between the two countries.
In addition, they will discuss issues in the fields of health, medicine, transport, agriculture, energy, education, social development, culture, environment, and cooperation between their private sectors, she pointed out.
They will also discuss draft agreements, protocols, and executive programs in the fields of energy, investment, environment, vocational training, housing, and national production protection, she noted.
Trade exchange between the two countries until last June equaled USD 344 million worth exports and USD 1.5 billion worth imports.
Direct Saudi investments in Jordan, benefiting from the investment encouragement law, are valued at about USD 1.4 billion and around USD 2 billion in Amman Stock Exchange.
Saudi Arabia is among the ten countries with the largest investments in Jordan.
Kuwait is the top investor in Jordan, having over USD 7.5 billion investments there.
