Jordan keens to expand trade relations with Pakistan: Envoy

Islamabad: Jordanian Ambassador Dr Maen Khreasat on Tuesday said that his country was keen to expand its trade ties with Pakistan through enhanced bilateral cooperation across various economic sectors, which would be mutually beneficial for both countries.

Talking to the business community at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said that Jordan and Pakistan could cooperate in many areas, including tourism, information technology (IT), sports, vocational training for youth, agriculture and others.

There was a good potential for cooperation between the women entrepreneurs of both countries to achieve mutual profits, he added. Dr Maen Khreasat said that the bilateral trade volume of around $50 million between Jordan and Pakistan was much less than the actual potential.

The two countries, he stressed, should establish direct air links to promote strong connectivity between their private sectors to explore all untapped areas of bilateral business and investment cooperation.

The envoy said that Pakistani investors could invest in the real estate sector of Jordan and assured that he would cooperate in developing business linkages between the private sectors of both countries to increase bilateral trade and economic relations.

Speaking on the occasion, ICCI Vice President Engineer Azhar ul Islam Zafar said that Pakistan and Jordan enjoyed cordial relations that should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations to achieve mutual benefits for their economies.

He said that Pakistan produced many quality products, including textiles, food products, pharmaceuticals, sports goods, surgical items and leather goods and Jordan should enhance its imports from Pakistan to meet the needs of its consumers. He urged both the countries to focus on the regular exchange of trade delegations and facilitate B2B meetings between their private sectors to strengthen bilateral business cooperation, besides sharing the list of major imports of Jordan with ICCI so that the business community could increase its exports to that country.