Zeman proposes Czech expertise to enhance Jordan's development

AMMAN  — Czech President Milos Zeman on Tuesday proposed helping the Kingdom in defence, energy and renewable energy projects as well as tourism. 

Addressing the closing session of the Jordanian-Czech Business Forum, Zeman said such cooperation can be achieved through Czech companies specialised in these fields. 

He also referred to the possibility of cooperation with Jordan in establishing the nuclear reactor, expanding the health sector, and launching direct flights between Amman and Prague. 

Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed welcomed Zeman’s visit, voicing hope that it would pave the way for developing economic relations between the two countries.

Hamed said Jordan’s heavy reliance on oil and gas imports inhibits economic and social development, noting that the government is striving to diversify resources through using shale oil and renewable energy.

The minister added that the 2007-2020 energy strategy is in line with ambitions and goals  that aim at enhancing the contribution of local resources to the overall energy mix.

The Renewable Energy Law is the first of its kind in the region, Hamed continued, noting that it allows investors to develop electricity power production and enable them to sell the  power surplus to the national power grid. 

He also mentioned that the government’s policies in facilitating investments in renewable energy projects have resulted in signing several memoranda of understanding such as the 117-megawatt wind energy project in Tafileh, and other 200-megawatt projects, most of which in Maan.

Regarding oil shale, Hamed said the Kingdom has signed many agreements for generating electricity, one of which with an Estonian company to generate 470 megawatts of electricity, a project expected to conclude in 2018.

There is another agreement with the Saudi Arab Company to utilise oil shale, Hamed noted. 

Czech Vice Minister of Industry Vladimir Bartl, stressed his country’s keenness to enhance economic and commercial cooperation with Jordan and to search for new economic opportunities that would expand commercial exchange and lead to establishing joint investment projects. 

First Deputy President of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce Ghassan Khirfan said the Kingdom’s imports from the Czech Republic in 2013 reached JD25 million, while Jordan’s exports to Czech in 2013 reached only JD67,000, mainly phosphate, fertilisers, potash and medicines. 

On the sidelines of the forum, a  memorandum of understanding was signed between Ministry of  Energy and Mineral Resources, and the Czech ministry of industry and trade to increase bilateral cooperation in the fields of electricity, renewable energy, power rationalisation, nuclear energy and natural gas.

The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission and the Czech Nuclear Research Centre also signed a cooperation agreement in the fields of research and nuclear safety.

The Jordan Chamber of Commerce and the Czech Industrial Union signed a memorandum of understanding to increase bilateral cooperation.