Ammon News - Head of the Jordan Exporters Association (JEA), Ahmad Khudari, expressed the association's keenness to increase exports of national products into the Canadian market by enhancing benefits from the free trade agreement (FTA) signed between the two countries.

According to a JEA statement Saturday, Khudari said the Jordan-Canada FTA, which entered into force in 2012, provides "various and promising" opportunities for the national industry to enter the Canadian market and meet its needs for "high-quality" goods.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of a JEA training workshop, in cooperation with the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFOC) for industrial companies and businesswomen in the food and cosmetics sectors, he noted the JEA seeks, through its activities, to help Jordanian companies and businesswomen increase industrial exports to the Canadian market.

Khudari stressed the JEA's keenness to develop the businesswomen's capabilities and engage them in international trade and find export opportunities in a number of global markets by taking part in the JEA's external exhibitions and organizing specialized training workshops to benefit from Jordan's free trade agreements with many countries.

Khudari lauded the TFOC's role in implementing programs in cooperation with the JEA to help Jordanian companies and businesswomen enter new markets, especially Canada.

In 2018, the JEA sent a delegation to take part in an international exhibition in Canada, which saw the participation of a number of Jordanian businesswomen, with the aim of promoting their products, which highlighted their potential to compete within the Canadian market, he noted.

This step, he said, showed opportunities for Jordanian businesswomen, especially for business owners outside the capital, Amman, but lack technical and financial support to help access foreign markets.

In 2009, Jordan and Canada signed four bilateral cooperation agreements, with the aim of establishing "distinguished" economic relations in various fields, including a FTA and three pacts on investment, labor and the environment.

National exports to Canada increased during the last nine months of 2021 by 19% to reach JD38 million, compared to JD32 million for the same period 2020.