Daily Times

Ambassador of Jordan Ibrahim Al-Madani has said that his country wants to increase bilateral trade relations with Pakistan by intensifying the engagement between the private sector of both the countries.

The ambassador said this while talking to Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Vice President Umar Masood-ur-Rehman and Chairman Coordination Mirza Abdul Rehman, said a press statement issued on Wednesday.

The ambassador said that the most important way to increase bilateral trade is enhancing business-to-business cooperation and people-to-people contacts in different sectors. He said that in the coming months there would be high-level visits by trade delegations, which would further cement the bilateral relations between both the countries.

The ambassador said that he is committed to provide all possible facilities to Pakistani businessmen in joint ventures, including finding investment opportunities in Jordan. He said that Jordan has strong and historic relations with Pakistan based on mutual respect and common values and these bounds would further strengthen during the days to come.

The two countries will not reap the benefits unless both sides show interest, he said, adding that Pakistani products could be exported to Jordan including fabrics, garments and agricultural seeds, machinery and spare parts, oil, juice, cotton, fibre optics, paper, leather and many more items have huge marketing potential. He said Jordan has the potential to export to Pakistan fertilizers, iron, pharmaceuticals, plastics, processed food products, some agricultural products and machinery.

FPCCI Vice President Umar Masood-ur-Rehman thanked the Jordanian Ambassador for visiting the FPCCI Capital Office and said that Pakistan has a long history of bilateral trade while the volume of trade was very small. He drew the attention of the Jordanian ambassador to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) of Pakistan and said that Jordanian companies could take full benefits by setting up their own manufacturing plants in Pakistan as labour here is much cheaper than in Jordan.

He said that in order to remove trade barriers and increase trade volume, the business community of both the countries must be brought closer.

Umar Masood-ur-Rehman said that there are excellent investment opportunities for Jordanian investors in various sectors including energy, tourism, information technology, food processing, agriculture, dairy development, furniture processing, hotel industry and development of tourist destinations. Therefore, Jordanian investors should take full advantage of these opportunities.

Mirza Abdul Rehman Chairman Coordination FPCCI speaking on the occasion said that promotion of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Jordan was necessary, increasing the volume of trade between the two countries is the need of the time. He said that there are vast investment opportunities existing in different segments of the national economy, adding that promotion of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Jordan would be beneficial for both the countries.