Ammon News - President of the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI), Fathi Jaghbir, discussed with President and members of the Jordan-European Business Association (JEBA), ways to enhance joint economic relations and increase Jordanian industrial exports to EU.

Despite the agreement to simplify rules of origin with EU, Jordan-EU trade balance is still in favor of the bloc, as the Kingdom's trade balance deficit with EU countries went up during the past year by 12.9%, reaching to about JD2.671 billion, Jaghbir said in a JCI statement on Wednesday.

Value of Jordan's exports to EU amounted to nearly JD199 million, while its imports exceeded JD2.870 billion. Germany was the top exporter to the Kingdom with JD544 million, while the Netherlands was at the largest importer of Jordanian products, with a value of JD39 million, showed the JCI data.

Jaghbir, who is also head of Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC), stressed the JCI and ACC efforts to enhance Jordan's exports to traditional and "promising" markets, while ensuring commodity diversity of high-quality Jordanian products, which suffer from weak promotion and technical support.

This obstacle is addressed by providing an export readiness test service for industrial facilities and conducting market studies based on technical analysis of global market requirements, raising export technical competencies, and then networking Jordanian manufacturers with potential European buyers, Jaghbir pointed out.

For his part, JEBA president , Ali Haider Murad, said the association will coordinate with JCI and ACC in all its activities, especially with regard to talks with European commercial attaché offices, as well as organizing visits and economic missions, which contribute to increasing trade exchange with the European Union.


Murad also said JEBA will hold awareness workshops on specifications and requirements for entering EU markets, in cooperation with specialized experts, and enhance benefit from European programs for exchanging expertise and boost capabilities of Jordanian companies and establishments, in the marketing and management fields.