Ensour, Halawani and Zeybekci advance Jordanian-Turkish ties

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Monday received in his office Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci and the accompanying delegation of businessmen and Turkish private sector representatives. 

Ensour and Zeybekci discussed ways of boosting economic relations between the two countries. 

The premier welcomed the Turkish private sector to benefit from the investment opportunities in Jordan, and the possibility of being a gateway for Turkish products to reach the region’s markets. 

Zeybekci said the talks come in follow-up to His Majesty’s visit to Turkey in March 2013 so as to benefit from the incentives provided by the Kingdom.

Separately, Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Hatem Halawani on Monday commended the Jordanian-Turkish Partnership Council as a partnership agreement to establish a free trade zone between Jordan and Turkey. 

The partnership between the two countries started in 1980s and continued to develop until the trade exchange reached $855.2 million, with Turkish investments in the Kingdom reaching $114 million. 

The council aims at developing cooperation between the two countries, especially at the economic and commercial levels.

Earlier on Monday, Zeybekci and Halawani  attended the official opening ceremony  of the Kibar  Industry Mafraq plant.

 Kibar Industry Co., which is an affiliate of Kibar Holding, started operating  in Jordan on an area of 65,000-square-metres with 10,000-square-metre indoor area, in the city of Mafraq. 

The site is Kibar’s 4th plant manufacturing sandwich panel. The investment is part of the Assan Panel Group, which is the leading sandwich panel manufacturer in Turkey.

 The plant’s foundations were laid at the beginning of 2012, and it now has the highest capacity product line in the Middle East with a production capacity of 4.5 million square metres.

The plant manufactures roof and façade sandwich panels with polyurethane and polyisocyanurate insulation providing high fire-resistance as well as sandwich panels up to 20 centimetres thickness for cold storages.