ACC stresses the need to strengthen the Kingdom’s economic relations with Pakistan
06/09/2023
ACC stresses the need to strengthen the Kingdom’s economic relations with Pakistan
The Chairman of the Amman Chamber of Commerce, Khalil Haj Tawfiq, discussed with the new Jordanian Ambassador to Pakistan, Dr. Maen Khreisat, the importance of enhancing the trade and investment cooperation opportunities available between the two countries.
According to a statement by the Chamber, the meeting discussed ways to develop and enhance trade and economic relations between the two countries, through exchanging trade missions and holding exhibitions to explore new markets and expand the horizons of joint cooperation.
During the meeting held at the Chamber’s premises, they pointed out the importance of the role of the Jordanian embassy in Pakistan by providing data on the needs of the Pakistani market for goods and services, and promoting investment opportunities in the Kingdom, in light of the new investment environment law that grants many advantages and incentives to investors.
Haj Tawfiq said that Jordanian-Pakistani relations in the economic field are below the level of ambitions, which requires strengthening communication between the various concerned parties in the two countries to develop opportunities for cooperation between business owners, especially in promising sectors.
During the meeting, which was attended by the Vice-Chairman of the Chamber, Nabil Al-Khatib and Bahjat Hamdan, he stated that the commercial and service sector was keen to increase and enhance its imports of Pakistani products, especially meat, fish, rice, textile materials, and clothing, in addition to exporting the Kingdom’s products from the fertilizer, phosphate, potash, and other industries.
Haj Tawfiq confirmed the Chamber’s readiness to receive trade delegations from Pakistan to enhance the level of economic relations between the two countries and benefit from Jordan’s strategic location to enter the region’s markets, and the possibility of forming a Jordanian economic delegation from various sectors to visit Pakistan and discover investment opportunities there.
For his part, Ambassador Khreisat stressed the need for cooperation to organize a program by tourism and travel agents to visit tourist attractions in Jordan, so that the program includes a detailed explanation of all the activities and events that the Pakistani visitor can enjoy, including a tourist map of archaeological and religious sites and financial costs.
He pointed out that it is expected that during the spring of next year 2024, meetings of the Joint Jordanian-Pakistani Ministerial Committee will be held, which is an appropriate opportunity to hold a forum for Jordanian and Pakistani businessmen on the sidelines of the meetings in cooperation with Jordanian private sector bodies to network between the private sector in a way that contributes to enhancing the volume of joint trade and investment exchange.
The ambassador called on the chambers of commerce to determine their priorities in the economic, investment, service and tourism fields in terms of increasing trade exchanges between the two countries and to provide him with these priorities and an action plan to proceed in coordination with the Pakistani side to achieve the desired goals.
For their part, Al-Khatib and Hamdan affirmed the Chamber’s full readiness to provide all facilities that would develop and strengthen Jordanian-Pakistani economic relations, welcoming any visit by any commercial delegation from the Pakistani Chambers of Commerce and Industry to visit the Kingdom.
They pointed out that the tourism sector may be the most important field that contributes to advancing economic cooperation relations between the two countries, which requires providing a direct flight line, explaining that the opportunity exists to increase their trade exchanges in light of the presence of maritime shipping lines, which leads to facilitating the transport of goods at appropriate financial costs.
They stressed the importance of implementing the "Umrah Plus" program with Pakistan, which allows pilgrims to enter Jordan first, tour the cities of the Kingdom, visit religious sites, and then leave to perform Umrah, or go to Umrah and then enter Jordan.
And we indicated that the program will open new horizons for tourism and will benefit the private sectors related to tourism, such as the hotel sector, tourist restaurants, and others.
For his part, Director General of the Chamber Hisham Dweik stressed the necessity of activating the Joint Jordanian-Pakistani Business Council, which includes the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Jordan and the Federation of Pakistani Chambers of Commerce, with the aim of developing economic and trade relations between the two countries, especially between private sector institutions.
It is noteworthy that the Kingdom's exports to Pakistan amounted to about 16 million dollars during the past year 2022, compared to 38 million dollars of imports.
