Ammon News - Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labor Yousef Shamali said Saturday that the government is serious about forging a robust partnership with the private sector, which plays a key role in propping up the national economy and employing Jordanians.

In a meeting with the industrial sector at the Amman Chamber of Industry, Shamali said that the Jordanian economy is stable and is seeing growth, as it passed the fifth International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission review, which raised the Kingdom's credit rating to (B+), indicating that inflation rates in the Kingdom are the lowest among regional countries, and that the investment environment is attractive with no complications to investors.

He said the economic modernization scheme set a roadmap for the next stage to stimulate and advance the national economy, as emphasis in the coming period will be on vocational and technical training.

He pointed out that nine sectoral councils have been set up, all of them from the private sector that can determine their employment needs, which will help reduce unemployment, expressing hope that the Jordanian workforce in factories would reach 100 percent.

Regard industrialists' issues with the Customs Department, Shamali said the department has a reform scheme to provide facilities to importers and exporters at border crossings, whereby all control authorities will function under the department's umbrella to ease procedures and prevent delays.

President of the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry Fathi Jaghbir said raising national industrial exports contributes to reducing unemployment, as studies indicated that increasing exports by two billion dinars could create about 80,000 new job opportunities, which requires enhancing the competitiveness of national industries through reducing costs, especially energy and transport, providing skilled labor and applying reciprocity with countries that put obstacles in the way of industrial exports.

The meeting was attended by the secretaries-general of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Labor, the directors general of the Social Security Corporation, Standards and Metrology Organization, Civil Consumer Corporation, Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) and Vocational Training Corporation.