Ammon News - President of the Jordan Businessmen Association (JBA), Hamdi Tabbaa, praised His Majesty King Abdullah II's efforts to strengthen Jordan-US relations in various political and economic fields.

In a press statement on Sunday, he stressed the importance of harnessing "expected positive" outcomes of the King's visit to Washington on the ground by creating opportunities that would contribute to achieving development in Jordan's business environment and strengthening the export sector.

The Royal visit, which comes amid the current conditions due to the pandemic-induced economic repercussions, reflects "strong and long-standing" Jordanian-American relations, and contributes to developing future prospects for bilateral ties at the regional and international levels, according to Tabbaa.

The King's visit to Washington is a "positive" opportunity to discuss and resolve all pending issues, and to present his political and economic visions to serve Jordan's interests, especially since His Majesty is the first Arab leader to meet the U.S. president, he pointed out.

The Jordanian business community, he noted, is looking forward "with optimism" to the visit's outcomes and its agenda to reach a "new" stage of bilateral relations to serve common interests.

Jordan, he said, plays an "important" role in the region, as the Kingdom has always had great "historic" positions towards major Arab issues aimed to achieve regional stability.

Tabbaa noted the "strategic" relations between the two countries have witnessed development over the past years, adding that the King's visit contributes to opening "wider" horizons for joint trade and investment cooperation, which would help Jordanian economy grow and recover.

The United States is an important trading partner for Jordan, especially since the two countries signed Free Trade Agreement in 2000, which entered into force in 2001, he noted.

The agreement formed the basis for the bilateral partnership, which would enhance competitiveness of Jordanian exports and facilitate their entry to the American market, according to Tabbaa.