UAE, Jordan discuss elevating commercial, investment relations

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and Bisher Khasawneh, Prime Minister of Jordan, discussed ways of enhancing trade and investment relations between the UAE and Jordan to stimulate joint economic growth and create more opportunities for cooperation between their business communities and private sectors.

This came as Prime Minister Khasawneh received Dr. Al Zeyoudi in Amman, Jordan, in the presence of Yousef Mahmoud Al Shamali, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply of Jordan.

During the meeting, Khasawneh highlighted the close ties between the two countries and expressed his support for the UAE as the host of the 13th World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Abu Dhabi in February 2024, with the attendance of ministers and officials from 164 members of the organisation. He also confirmed Jordan’s high-level participation in the conference.

He then commended the UAE for successfully hosting the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in November 2023, which launched many significant initiatives.

Al Zeyoudi said the UAE and Jordan have a joint aspiration to develop future-oriented economies driven by innovation, knowledge, and the unhindered exchange of trade and investment. They are keen to enhance their bilateral ties to higher degrees of cooperation and mutual prosperity.

The frequent meetings and close friendship between President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, have enhanced the close relations between the two nations and their strategic collaboration to support their future goals of attaining sustainable growth and well-being, and the hopes of their two friendly peoples for a more prosperous and advanced future, he added.

"There is a mutual will to build on the commercial and investment momentum between the two countries, to improve their relations and create more opportunities for their business communities,” Al Zeyoudi said.

The non-oil trade between the two countries increased by over 47 percent in 2022, reaching US$4.5 billion, more than double the total in 2020 when their trade grew by 106 percent, and also 57.8 percent higher than in 2019. This growth continued in the first half of 2023, with trade flows totalling US$2 billion.

By increasing this trade, Jordan became the UAE’s third leading Arab trade partner in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), following Iraq and Egypt. Jordan accounted for 8 percent of the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade with Arab nations.

The UAE is also Jordan’s fifth leading global trading partner and second leading Arab partner after Saudi Arabia, with a share of 6.2 percent of Jordan’s foreign trade with the world.

The UAE is Jordan’s top foreign investor, with its investments in the kingdom amounting to around US$4 billion by 2020, accounting for 14 percent of Jordan’s total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. In 2021, Jordan invested over US$1.6 billion in the UAE, making it one of the country’s 24 key investing countries and the sixth among Arab nations after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Qatar.