JBA, Belgian ambassador talk trade ties

AMMAN — Members of the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) and Belgian Ambassador Serge Dickschenon on Tuesday, discussed ways to enhance trade and investment relations between the two countries, as well as the business community's role in actualising such efforts.  

JBA President Hamdi Tabbaa highlighted the association’s role in promoting investment opportunities in the Kingdom's most promising economic sectors and its commitment to enhancing Jordan’s position in the international arena, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Tabbaa also referred to available investment opportunities in the tourism, energy and financial sectors, noting that Aqaba in particular hosts many investment opportunities and is logistically well poised to link with Belgian ports with Jordan.  

Dickschen expressed his commitment to cooperate with the JBA in order to develop Belgium's economic relations with Jordan, identify untapped opportunities and increase trade and joint investments between the two countries in accordance with “historical ties that are based on mutual respect".

The ambassador said that Jordan has a “prominent regional position and has competitive advantages” in terms of the investment environment, especially regarding stability and excellence in entrepreneurship — there are many Jordanian startups that have succeeded at the international level.

Dickschen underscored the importance of increasing trade and investment exchange, expanding and diversifying the export base, mobilising businesspeople and promoting cooperation with and networking between private sector institutions in the two countries.

According to the JBA, the value of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to some $169 million in 2021, $35 million of which were exports to Jordan that included clothing, aluminium and chemical products.