EU envoy: Economic Modernization Vision culminates political reform efforts

Jordan's recently-launched Economic Modernisation Vision culminates His Majesty King Abdullah's and the Jordanian government's political reform efforts, said Maria Hadjitheodosiou, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday.

During a meeting held by the Jordan Europe Business Association (JEBA) under the title "Strengthening Jordanian-European Relations and Opportunities," Hadjitheodosiou pointed to the Kingdom's great potential to attract investments, which positively affects economic growth rates and exports.

There are promising investment opportunities in Jordan, she added, which can be further developed in cooperation with the countries of the Union, especially in green growth, water, energy, and renewable energy areas.
For his part, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Supply Youssef Shamali described the decades-long Jordanian-European relations as "strategic," pointing to a number of agreements that aimed at increasing trade exchange.

The minister underscored that there are "great opportunities to work closely with partners in the European Union," to achieve a balance between exports and imports. Imports, he noted, have reached $682 million in the first quarter of the current year, up by 9 percent from the $625 million recorded in the same period of last year.


Jordanian exports are "good but limited," he stated, pointing to a national strategy to examine means to diversify exports and find new non-traditional markets.

The JEBA's president Ali Murad stated that there are untapped opportunities between Jordan and the European Union, calling for exploring and developing them and upping Jordanian exports to the countries of the Union.