Officials from Jordan and Egypt on Sunday called for moves to boost bilateral trade and investment as they gathered in Amman to prepare for the incoming meetings of the Joint Jordanian Egyptian Higher Committee.
Muntaser Oqlah, Secretary General of Jordan's Industry and Trade Ministry, stressed the importance of implementing bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding for the interest of both countries.
According to the official, the two countries have signed agreements including the Greater Arab Free Trade Zone and the Aghadir Agreement, which aims at achieving a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010.
This was echoed by Mohamed Abbas, head of the Egyptian side and supervisor of Arab and African Sector at the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, who called for removing obstacles in trade and investment.
The two sides also touched on providing Jordan with Egyptian natural gas, holding an exhibition for Jordanian industries in Egypt in 2009 and duty-free trade.
According to a statement issued earlier by Jordan's Ministry of Industry and Trade, the incoming meetings of the Joint Jordanian Egyptian Higher Committee would be held on the ministerial level, with the Jordanian side led by Minister of Industry and Trade Amer Hadidi and the Egyptian side led by Minister of International Cooperation Fayzah Abul Naja.
According to Oqlah, trade between Jordan and Egypt during the first nine months of 2008 stood at 629 million dollars, up by 30 per cent over the same period of last year.