Jordan, India call for further economic cooperation

AMMAN — Although only 10 per cent of Jordan’s trade is with India, the figure is still significant, and hosting “one of the global economic giants” will lead to more venues of cooperation, said a senior official on Sunday.

Addressing a seminar titled “India — Surging Ahead”, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Yusuf Mansur said: “India’s economic success story is based on willpower more so than resources. India decided to be inclusive, to include all to participate in the economic process.”

“In Jordan…, we have made reforms, aimed at inclusiveness, speeding up investments whether domestic or foreign. Now we are making reforms that are aimed at quick wins and successes, not for us, but for the private sector, because it’s our belief that it’s the private sector that drives the economy,” the minister said, addressing Jordanian and Indian businesspeople.

“Where there’s a wealthy private sector, likewise there will be a wealthy government,” Mansur noted at the seminar, organised by the Indian embassy in Jordan in cooperation with the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA).

In spite of the refugee burden, Jordan’s economy remains resilient. An economy that has absorbed 20 per cent of its population in refugees within four years is capable of sustaining itself, the minister said.

“We will be looking for speedy recovery... That’s our motto for this era,” he indicated. 

Citing the Jordan Compact, which was adopted at the London donor conference last February and which details donors’ pledges to Jordan and the Kingdom’s commitments towards the Syrian refugees, the minister urged the business community to use the opportunity at hand to invest in Jordan.

He urged businessmen to benefit from the recently adopted relaxed rules of origin for Jordanian exports to Europe, keeping in mind that 15 per cent of the manpower should be Syrian. 

In her opening remarks, Indian Ambassador to Jordan Shubhdarshini Tripathi, highlighted investment-friendly measures adopted in India. Underscoring a 7.6 per cent growth rate, macro-economic stability and shrinking inflation, she said India recorded an almost 40 per cent increase in foreign direct investments in the last fiscal year. Also, $55 billion have been invested in India in the same period, she added.

Regarding Indo-Jordanian trade ties, Tripathi said both countries need to diversify trade, noting that “aggressive steps” need to be taken in this regard.

“We have two major raw materials available with us, the first is the synergies and the complementarities that we share between India and Jordan, which can be worked at, and second is the goodwill, which already exists,” she noted.

The joint trade volume stood at $2.2 billion in 2015, according to embassy figures. 

Addressing the seminar, Senator Munther Haddadin said despite all constraints, Jordan “is an exception” in the region in terms of law and stability. He urged the business community to invest in Jordan and benefit from its human resources and geographic central location.

At the event, Abdul Halim Abdin, JBA secretary general said although Jordan has many trade agreements with the West and the EU, many industries in Jordan are small and medium-scale enterprises which are interested in investing in India and vice versa. He encouraged further work in the sector.