‘Trade Ministry seeking export markets in East Africa, Central Asia’

AMMAN — The Trade Ministry is working to find new markets to promote Jordanian products in East African and Central Asian countries, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Jawad Anani said on Sunday. 

Chairing a meeting at the ministry, Anani, who is minister of industry, trade and supply, said that finding new markets would help increase the volume of national exports and make up for the losses caused by the closure of the Iraqi and Syrian markets. 

The ministry plans to increase exports of various goods, including pharmaceuticals, to Palestine by $1 billion, he said.

An economic delegation is scheduled to visit Kazakhstan in September to discuss cooperation, he said, adding that the ministry hopes to open the Kazakh market to Jordanian products. 

The meeting, held to discuss challenges to the pharmaceutical industry, was attended by Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab and Amman Chamber of Industry President Ziad Homsi.

Anani highlighted the importance of boosting the pharmaceutical sector through scientific research and the development of new products. 

A comprehensive policy on the challenges facing the sector will be developed in cooperation with the public and private sectors, in line with the Jordanian Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ recommendations, the minister added. 

Anani and Sheyyab also highlighted outcomes of talks with an Egyptian ministerial delegation that visited Jordan last week to register Jordanian medicines in Egypt.

They said an agreement was reached on joint rules to register medicine, adding that other issues were resolved. 

Representatives of the association briefed the ministers on challenges to the industry, highlighting the high level of competition with imported medicines and the decline of the sector’s domestic market share, as well as complications in the registration process and pricing issues.