Jordan, Greece should become each other's gateways, say businesspeople

AMMAN — Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Ali on Tuesday invited Greek businesspeople to make investments in Jordan, which she said can be their gateway to regional and international markets. 

Jordan enjoys free trade agreements it signed with Arab countries, the US and Canada and other countries, she told a delegation of businesspeople visiting the Kingdom to participate in the Jordanian-Greek business forum, which commenced Tuesday. 

Ali briefed the delegates on investment opportunities available in the Kingdom, and discussed with them ways to enhance economic cooperation between both countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

There are several investment opportunities in Jordan and Greece that can be utilised to increase economic cooperation through holding investment projects, Ali said. 

Dimitris Mardas, Greek deputy foreign minister for trade affairs and head of the delegation, expressed his country's keenness to develop economic cooperation with Jordan in various fields, particularly energy.

He also called for encouraging Jordanian and Greek businesspeople to benefit from available investment opportunities in both countries, Petra added.

In 2015, Jordanian exports to Greece stood at nearly $5 million, while exports of Greece to the Kingdom amounted to $41 million. 

At the business forum, organised by Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) and Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC), Mardas said that Jordan can benefit from his country's expertise in the field of renewable energy and infrastructure.

He said that reform programmes the Greek government has implemented over the past years paid off as Greece has gradually started to exit the economic crisis and started to regain investors' confidence in its economy.  

ACI Chairman Ziad Homsi said Greece can also play an important role in enabling Jordanian products reach European markets, particularly the Balkan region. 

He said that regional unrest has deprived Jordanian products from access to traditional markets in the Middle East, adding that the industrial sector is ready to remove obstacles that may hold back larger economic cooperation with Greece. 

ACC Chairman Issa Murad described trade exchange between Jordan and Greece as modest, indicating it represents less than 1 per cent of the overall trade volume with European countries.