Strategic visit and partnership

His Majesty King Abdullah’s visit to China, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, is bound to enhance the already “solid” ties between the two countries.

Talks between the two leaders touched on bilateral relations and ways to enhance them in all fields, especially at political, economic, military and commercial levels, and also on the latest developments in the regional and international arenas.

The immediate result was the announcement of the desire to establish a strategic partnership that would open a “new chapter” in bilateral ties and take them to a new level of fruitful cooperation.

The two leaders also agreed to maintain contact and cooperation on a broad spectrum of issues ranging from energy to railroads, communication, electricity, oil, gas, water desalination, shale oil, and nuclear and renewable energy.

All these domains are at the heart of Jordan’s development plans, and having China willing to promote and implement development projects will go a long way towards making the Kingdom stronger economically.

A technical and economic cooperation grant agreement to provide Jordan with about JD14 million was signed, an accord that is expected to be followed by six more and two memoranda of understanding in the field of tourism, telecommunications, infrastructure, energy and education, all no doubt contributing to boosting the relations between the two countries.

Jordan’s participation in the 2015 China-Arab states Expo in Yinchuan city, as an honorary guest with the largest pavilion, is another example of activities meant to expand economic cooperation between Jordan and China.

The volume of trade between the two sides tilts heavily in China’s favour, but Jordanian exports to China went up by 200 per cent over 2013, which is an encouraging trend.

The King is the driving force in the partnership relations between China and Jordan, and the prime mover to bring the ties to fruition.

It is now up to the governments of the two countries to follow up on what was built in Beijing and maintain the momentum.