Daily Times

Jordanian Ambassador to Pakistan, Ibrahim Almadani on Friday said that Pakistani businesses that want to explore investment opportunities and form joint ventures with Jordanian companies will be fully facilitated.

The comments come a day after the Jordanian envoy along with Dr Maen Khareasat, minister plenipotentiary at the Jordan embassy, visited the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Thursday.

He said that Jordan is a free market economy with free economic zones which have passed through major reforms during the last two decades, the envoy told a foreign news agency. “We would like to increase the volume of trade with Pakistan. Our meeting with the ICCI delegation was part of this and remained very positive. We will facilitate the movement of Pakistani business community to Jordan as much as possible,” he added.

Almadani said that Jordan has strong and historic relations with Pakistan based on mutual respect and shared values. “We intend to enhance bilateral trade ties by intensifying our relationship with the private sector in Pakistan,” he added.

He said both the countries have great potential to increase trade ties in the manufacturing, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, defence industries and tourism sectors. The most important way to enhance bilateral trade is through business-to-business cooperation and people-to-people contacts, Almadani said.

“There will be high level visits of trade delegations in the coming months,” he said. “We are promoting Jordan in Pakistan and at the same time Pakistan in Jordan because benefits will not be gained unless both sides are not interested.”

The envoy said the total volume of bilateral trade currently stands at around $50 million, while the trade balance is in favour of Pakistan. He said that Pakistani products that can be exported to Jordan include fabric, garments, agriculture seeds, machinery and spare parts, oil, juices, cotton, fibre optics, paper, leather and many more,” he said. “Jordan is exporting to Pakistan fertilizers, iron, pharmaceuticals, plastics, processed food products, some agricultural products and machinery.