New platform equips industries for reaching international export markets

AMMAN — Director of the Industrial Affairs Department at the Amman Chamber of Industry Fadel Labadi on Saturday stressed the importance of the chamber’s move to join a project titled “Quality Infrastructure for the Promotion of Trade and Consumer Protection in the Middle East”. 

Labadi was speaking at a ceremony launching a platform offering information on the technical requirements for exporting to a number of international markets, which was developed within the project’s framework and is considered the “first of its kind” in Arab countries, according to a statement from the Amman Chamber of Industry.

He said that the chamber’s strategy aims to assist Jordanian industries in increasing their exports to various markets by taking advantage of all available opportunities to cooperate with international bodies to achieve this goal.

Developing quality infrastructure in Jordan has become a basic and important requirement to help factories increase their competitiveness in local and export markets, he added.

The project covers the aspects of knowledge and specialised information regarding technical requirements for exporting, which are considered the cornerstone to increase export readiness of industrial companies by allowing them to draft effective export plans to target various markets, Labadi said.

The first stage of the information platform covers the technical requirements for exporting the products of three industrial sectors — clothing, natural cosmetics and electrical home appliances — for a number of targeted export markets, namely European Union countries, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China.

Labadi noted that the chamber has been working for years to design and implement a number of specialised initiatives and programmes that directly contribute to developing the quality and competitiveness of national products.

These efforts include the factory support programme, which allows factories to obtain international standard certifications for quality management, environment and safety systems.

Another programme supports factories to obtain domestic and international conformity marks and certificates needed to export to international markets, including the European CE conformity mark, the American conformity mark UL and the Halal certification for food products, in addition to the Jordanian quality mark, he said.

According to the statement, a representative from the German Embassy in Amman stressed that developing the private sector is necessary to support the national economy and that the most important challenges facing Jordanian exports are the lack of information about export markets, laws and legislation in targeted countries.

He added that this platform will provide the information necessary for Jordanian industrialists wishing to export.

The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in cooperation with the National German Metrology Institute and entities from Jordan and several Arab countries including Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt, according to the statement.