India aims to enhance trade, IT cooperation with Jordan — ambassador

AMMAN — India’s Ambassador to Jordan Anwar Haleem highlighted the “commonalties of ideas and principles” between Amman and New Delhi.

Speaking during an interview with The Jordan Times on the occasion of his country’s national day, the ambassador expressed hope regarding the Kingdom’s upcoming decisions relating to investments and customs duties. 

“It will result in larger market openings, making Jordan a much more attractive destination. There are several private companies in India who are keenly looking into Jordan and we have been assisting them,” Haleem said.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic has been an obstacle as there was no movement between countries, stressing the need to enhance the technological route,” he added.

To facilitate this, India has opened “a centre of excellence” at the Al Hussein Technical University (HTU) in Amman in the field of computers and software.

In the centre, experts and trainers come from India to Jordan or vice versa for software training, the ambassador said. 

“We expect that in five years, a total of 3,000 software experts will be in Jordan which will contribute immensely to the GDP,” the diplomat said.

“This comes as a manifestation of the tight bilateral relations between Jordan and India which have always been very friendly, close and brotherly, as the relationship goes back to the earliest days. The two countries have a commonality of ideas and our principles are similar as we both work to benefit our people and develop their lives,” the ambassador said.

Haleem also noted that there is substantial educational and technical cooperation between Jordan and India, mentioning that “we train several Jordanians every year in the field of technology in the [iTech] programme, which had a large number of Jordanians taking part in it”.

“The leaders of the two countries met in 2018, which was a significant step to further develop the relationship. Agreements were signed in the fields of education and technology. This opened up new and bigger chances for cooperation,” Haleem said, and was done “in spite of the pandemic’s crisis”. 

The trade volume between India and Jordan is at approximately $2 billion with India “among the top four trade partners for Jordan”, according to Haleem.

The ambassador described the trade between the two countries as “immense”, noting that increasing trade volume is a focal point for India. 

He emphasised that India’s main focus is trade and transit trade, business and economic cooperation, as well as medical tourism and tourism in general.

“India is one of the largest shareholders in the Jordan Phosphate Mines Co [JPMC].  As the single largest product of export from Jordan to India is phosphate, we are the largest buyer of phosphate, buying more than a billion dollars every year,” Haleem told The Jordan Times.

India also imports oil, oil products, food products, electrical goods and more to Jordan, said Haleem. 

“On the Indian Republic Day, I hope that the Indian-Jordanian relations continue and further strengthen,” added the ambassador, hoping for “new horizons for meaningful relations and cooperation”.