South African delegation explores Jordan's potential for Mideast business, investment

AMMAN — A senior South African official on Sunday described Jordan as  an important gate to the Middle East and North Africa.

Zanele Sunni, chief director, and head of the Department of Trade and Industry delegation on South Africa’s trade and investment orientation, told The Jordan Times in an interview that South Africa is keen to bolster economic relations with Jordan through encouraging mutual investments in both countries.

Speaking on the sidelines of the first “South African Trade & Tourism Seminar, Exhibit and B2B Meeting” held in Amman on Sunday, Sunni said the volume of trade between the two countries is still modest and more need to be done to improve it.

Figures she presented showed South African exports to Jordan totaled $27 million in 2013, while imports from the Kingdom during the same year amounted to around $18 million.

Noting that the delegation was the first government mission on an exploratory tour  “because we are doing a Middle East round”, Sunni mentioned pharmaceuticals as a potential Jordanian export that “will be of interest to us, but I think we need to explore lots more”.

She said infrastructure, especially in the economic zones, was a priority for investment in South Africa.

“We have South African investments in the region,  I am sure that there are South Africans who will be interested in looking at that… we would also interested in investing in fast moving consumer goods, but that always depends on investors,” she added.

Speaking in the opening of the one-day forum,  South African ambassador to Jordan Molefe Tsele described South African and Jordanian relations as warm and growing. 

“South Africa is today one of the only two Sub-Saharan countries in Africa, where Jordan has an embassy, the other being Sudan,” Tsele said, adding that the ties between the two countries are a relationship of like-minded friendly countries, who share common political ideals about global and regional peace and stability.

However, he emphasised that bolstering business partnerships is also important in this regard.

“What is needed is to lift up this relationship to a higher platform through increased business partnerships and strategic economic relations,” he said.

The forum was held with the participation of representatives of several South African companies working in the fields of telecom, engineering, petrochemicals, power, water, software development and technology, in addition to representatives of Jordan chamber of commerce and investment commission.

According to Ahmad Zubi, director of studies and policies at the Jordan Investment Commission, Jordan provides both economically and politically stable environment for investment.

He also noted that investing in water efficiency projects is one of the country’s major priorities.