Dr. Hamad Kasasbeh

The value of resources is not measured only by what a country owns, but by what it can add to those resources through manufacturing, services, knowledge, and markets. This is the essence of the transformation needed in the Jordanian economy: turning existing resources and sectors from separate elements into connected value chains that begin with a resource or a skill, pass through manufacturing and supporting services, and end with a product or service capable of competing. Every link built inside the economy means higher returns, broader job opportunities, and greater capacity for export and growth.

From this perspective, Jordan needs a national map for value added, one that identifies where the country has a comparative advantage and where value can realistically increase over the next three to five years. The issue is not simply to add new names to the list of promising sectors, but to identify the activities that can increase exports, expand employment, and raise demand for local suppliers. In this way, numbers become a tool for development and follow-up, and economic policy becomes closer to managing results that can improve year after year.

In this context, the natural resources and mining sector represents an important national field whose economic return can be increased. In addition to phosphate and potash, Jordan has other resources such as silica sand, limestone, and some promising mineral ores. These resources can gain greater importance when they are linked to manufacturing and later industrial uses. This sector has already witnessed a growing direction toward manufacturing expansion and the production of fertilizers and related products. This direction can be gradually deepened by expanding downstream industries around specialized fertilizers, modern agricultural inputs, intermediate chemical materials, and materials used in glass, ceramics, and building-material industries, thereby supporting exports and technical jobs.

Experiences from other countries show that raising the economic value of resources is not achieved through sudden leaps, but through continuous focus and the building of clear production chains. Morocco built an industrial base in automobiles and components around its location and trade agreements, while Malaysia selected specific growth areas and linked them to private investment, training, and exports. Jordan can benefit from the logic of these experiences in a way that suits its own context, by selecting specific pathways, developing productive linkages around them, and following them through clear indicators. Small countries can create significant impact when they focus on the areas where they know their advantage and work steadily to develop it.

From the reality of the Jordanian economy, the importance of value added becomes clearer when looking at sectors that already produce and export, such as fertilizers and chemical products, pharmaceuticals, garments, and some mineral and food products. These sectors are not starting from zero; they already have production experience, markets, and existing trade relationships. Therefore, the most realistic path is to raise value within the sectors that are already operating, through improving quality, design, packaging, testing, marketing, and their connection with local suppliers. Every small improvement in these links can increase returns and make Jordanian products more competitive.

While natural resources are important, growth opportunities should not be limited to them alone. There are realistic opportunities in pharmaceuticals, advanced food industries, smart agriculture, digital services, medical and educational tourism, logistics, and renewable energy. These fields can benefit from better organization, faster facilitation, specialized training, and financing directed toward projects capable of scaling up. Even increasing the value produced in some of these activities by 10 or 15 percent over several years could have a positive impact on income and employment, especially when linked to external markets.

Food industries, pharmaceuticals, and digital services stand out as fields that deserve special attention within this path. In food, a larger share of agricultural production can be transformed into healthy, dried, and packaged products with brands, cold chains, and improved packaging. In pharmaceuticals and medical products, what has already been achieved can be expanded toward supplies, supplements, and applied research. In digital services, there is an opportunity to export programming, cybersecurity, financial analysis, and remote professional services. These fields are important because they employ Jordanian skills, allow the growth of non-traditional exports, and do not require large natural resources as much as they require organization, trust, and speed.

Value added also does not come from manufacturing alone, but from the services surrounding it. Every productive sector needs testing laboratories, packaging companies, transport and storage services, digital marketing, financing, consulting, maintenance, and training. The more these services remain within the Jordanian economy, the greater the local impact of the productive sector. In this sense, supporting industry does not mean supporting the factory alone, but building the environment that enables Jordanian products to reach markets more effectively and become more connected to local companies and skills.

Alongside productive sectors, public procurement can be viewed as one of the tools that may help, within legal frameworks and the rules of transparency and competition, to strengthen the impact of quality local production. The purpose is not to change the rules of public procurement or assign them roles beyond their function, but to benefit from existing public spending in a way that is more connected to quality, value, and development capacity. When technical specifications are designed clearly, and when capable companies are given the opportunity to provide a product or service efficiently and at a suitable price, public procurement can contribute to expanding the base of local suppliers, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and strengthening their connection to production chains, without compromising competition or the efficiency of public spending.

In conclusion, the transition from resources to higher value added is not merely a technical path; it is a way of managing national potential. Every resource can become more impactful when linked to manufacturing, every sector can create broader opportunities when connected to skills and markets, and every policy can become more effective when measured by its results rather than its titles. From this standpoint, the next stage requires a calm and organized partnership among the government, the private sector, universities, and governorates, based on clear roles, continuity of implementation, and measurement of impact. In this sense, raising value added is not an abstract economic objective, but a practical path to expanding job opportunities, increasing income, and building a more productive Jordanian economy that is better able to serve people.