Toukan, Indonesian FM talk economic cooperation

 AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Umayya Toukan and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Tuesday discussed means to strengthen economic cooperation.

The two sides during a meeting held at the Prime Ministry, with the participation of Chairman of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) Muhammad Thneibat, President of Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) Hamdi Tabbaa and Kingdom’s Ambassador to Jakarta Abdullah Abu Rumman, besides an accompanying Indonesian  delegation, agreed on the importance of increasing bilateral investments.

Talks also went over the need of opening new prospects for cooperation in the economy, trade and tourism, as well as activating the signed agreements, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Toukan reviewed the Kingdom’s economic reform measures, acquainting the gathering with the concessions granted for foreign investors and highlighting the opportunities of expanding Jordanian-Indonesian partnerships.

The minister also went over the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the Kingdom’s response in this arena.

He also pointed out the importance of cooperation in the tourism sector, in addition to the agriculture sector, notably with regard to food security.

Marsudi, for her part, emphasised the importance of the Jordanian market for Indonesia and Indonesian businesspeople and traders, stressing that Amman is “a gateway” to the region’s markets, particularly the GCC countries.

 She also expressed her country’s keenness on opening new markets for Indonesian products in Jordan, as well as importing Jordan-made products.

“Indonesia is attentive to economic and trade cooperation with Jordan.  The phosphate sector represents one of the most important industries. We are planning to invest in Jordan and increase bilateral trade flows, which are still limited,” she said.

She also called for holding virtual meetings to link businesspeople and related stakeholders to help strengthen cooperation.

Thneibat went over  JPMC’s investments in Indonesia, two joint ventures, highlighting the challenges facing these investments and calling for scaling up collaboration between the two parties through easing the company's work in Indonesia and giving it priority and opening joint ventures in Jordan that will offer all facilities.

For his part, Tabbaa expressed pride in the Kingdom’s achievements in the field of IT, noting that the Kingdom is part of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area Agreement (GAFTA), which means that the products of any Indonesian investor in Amman has access to more than 300 million Arab nationals.

The Jordanian envoy, Abu Rumman, said that the two countries are celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations, highlighting the solid bilateral ties.