Even Duba – Exclusive
The Jordan Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce, organized a joint Jordanian-Syrian business forum in Damascus, which kicked off on Saturday, October 8.
The forum includes presenting the potentials of Jordanian companies, and their business opportunities in the Syrian market fields of intra-trade, agencies, services, industry, the financial sector, insurance, contracting, construction, universities and agriculture.
Historically, the Jordanian and Syrian economies has broad and multifaceted economic relations, including intra-trade, investments and the movement of labor. At the same time, they include joint work through the joint free zone between the two countries.
Syria is very important for the Jordanian trade, including the flow of the Kingdom’s trade to Europe and many neighboring countries, whether in terms of export, import or transit.
On the other hand, Jordan is a safe gateway for Syrian products and goods to the markets of the Arab Gulf countries.
However, conditions resulting from the war in Syria hindered joint economic activity between the two countries for years (2011-2017). But in 2018, the signs of Syrian-Jordanian economic rapprochement began to appear, showing positive indications of restoring economic relations between the two countries.
The Start in 2018
In 2018, on the sidelines of the Damascus International Fair, the Jordanian and Syrian private sectors agreed to establish new economic and trade relations based on the partnership and common interests of the Two sisterly countries.
at the time, The Jordanian delegation included more than 80 businessmen representing industry, commerce, agriculture, transport, Customs, services and information technology sectors.
In addition, they stressed on the necessity of removing any obstacles standing in the way of economic cooperation between the two countries, taking advantage of the reconstruction phase in Syria, opening land borders and getting the import and export moving in both directions.
Acceleration in relationships
The Syrian-Jordanian economic relations have accelerated since September of 2021, as Amman and Damascus have discussed many joint projects. The Jordanian-Syrian rapprochement became clear when the two sides took a very important step: the reopening of the Jaber-Naseeb border post with Syria to travelers and freight traffic.
This was accompanied by holding some ministerial-level meetings between the two countries. Also, a set of contacts and understandings were made between the two countries on the need to remove obstacles and measures that hinder import, export and investment opportunities.
Syrian-Jordanian Free Zone
In a complementary step, the Syrian-Jordanian free zone was reopened, aiming at reactivating the commercial traffic, attracting investments and activating the service sector, thus creating job opportunities and contributing to achieving support for the economic and social development process for both countries.
Notably, the number of investment contracts in the commercial, industrial and service sectors, which was signed in the joint Syrian-Jordanian free zone during the first half of 2022, were 175.
Also, the number of vehicles entering the region from the Syrian side in the first half of 2022 was about 2000 empty trucks, that entered to import goods for Syria and Lebanon, and about 631 trucks loaded with goods from Syria heading to Jordan and the Arab Gulf countries.
In return, the number of empty vehicles entering from the Jordanian side reached 892 cars to import Syrian goods and about 2731 trucks loaded with exported goods from the Aqaba port in Jordan and the Arab Gulf states.
The volume of goods imported from Syria in the first half of 2022 reached 40.000 tons, which contained artificial stone, wheat and marble. On the other hand, the Jordan and Gulf export volume to Syria amounted to 56.000 tons, including tourist cars, solar panels, batteries, materials and plastic granules.
Syrian and Jordanian investors and businessmen are looking forward to the restoration of the Syrian-Jordanian economic relations for the benefit of both countries and their economies.