Jordan Daily – Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh met on Monday head of the Iraqi Business Council Majid Al-Saadi and council members, and pledged to remove barriers to investment in the Kingdom.
During the meeting, which was attended by Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yousef Shamali, Minister of Investment Khairy Amr, Iraqi Ambassador Haider Al-Adhari and President of the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Fathi Jaghbir, the Prime Minister stressed the “positive” role of the Iraqi Business Council in enhancing Jordanian-Iraqi economic ties.
He noted that His Majesty King Abdullah attached great importance to investment and seeks to bolster relations with Iraq in the various fields at the bilateral level and as part of three-way cooperation between Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, voicing the hope to speed up joint ventures.
The Prime Minister noted the Iraqi Parliament’s approval of a framework agreement on a pipeline project that will carry Iraqi crude from the southern Iraqi city of Basra to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, in addition to expediting work on an industrial zone on the Jordanian-Iraqi border. He also pointed to a recent Jordanian industrial fair in Baghdad, which “reflected the deep economic relations between the two countries.”
Khasawneh reiterated his government will take down investment barriers to lure in Arab and foreign capital and work to save troubled projects, while empowering the private sector to enhance existing investments “in a manner to raise GDP and help curb unemployment.
For his part, Al-Saadi said that Jordan is an investment magnet, where officials are keen on meeting Iraqi businessmen to remove barriers facing them, noting that despite the repercussions of Covid-19, Iraqi investments in the Kingdom remained stable with an interest to expand them.
He called for cutting red tape and simplifying investment legislation.
