Officials prepare for Joint Higher Jordanian-Egyptian Committee

AMMAN — The total trade exchange between Jordan and Egypt reached $656.5 million in 2014 compared to $817.8 million in 2013, Industry, Trade and Supply Secretary General Ramzi Shawish said Sunday.

He added at the 25th meeting of the technical preparatory committee for the Joint Higher Jordanian-Egyptian Committee that the total trade exchange in the first quarter of 2015 stood at $136.9 million, 27 per cent lower than the same period of 2014 when it reached $187.6 million.

Shawish called for benefiting from available opportunities through enhancing joint investments, and utilising the Grand Arab Free Trade Zone, which reached a full level of liberalisation in 2005, and the joint free trade agreement signed between Jordan and  Egypt in 1998.

Fathi Abdul Athim, head of the Egyptian side and first undersecretary of the Egyptian ministry of international cooperation, stressed the importance of enhancing bilateral cooperation at all levels, especially economic ones, urging the private sector to take advantage of available opportunities in both countries.