Details

As in the past four years a large number of business people from Jordan and Israel did not hesitate to brave the cold and very rainy weather to gather once again under the tents especially built to this effect at the Sheikh Hussein border crossing between Israel and Jordan.

This important yearly meeting, organized in cooperation between the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Israel Jordan Chamber of Commerce continues to attract more than ever business people as well as politicians and diplomats. The Israeli Jordanian Business Meeting of 18 January 2006 successfully achieved three goals: to give the opportunity to business people and ministry officials to meet their counterparts and exchange information, to hear first hand about the latest or future trade agreements and their implementations and allow people from both sides of the border to meet in a neutral environment and get better acquainted.

The presence of many representatives of the US embassies and especially of the EU Delegations in Israel and Jordan demonstrated the significance of this meeting at the political level as well. They all agreed that the promotion of trade and economic ties can help attain peace and stability in this region. As a clear example of such achievements that can also apply to the Middle-East, the EU Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Cibrian-Uzal, related to the European history of the last 50 years, starting from the setting up of the Common Market leading to the European Union as well as the commercial and economic relations that had developed with eastern Europe in the early 90's and had permitted a quicker integration of the former east bloc countries.

The business relations between Jordan and Israel today can be described as a good and complimentary cooperation which has not yet achieved its full potential. There still exists much room for upgrading and expansion. Sectors such as medical tourism at the Dead Sea, pharmaceutical products, high tech agriculture and tourism look very promising and both countries should benefit from improving their cooperation. In the field of tourism, regional cooperation is slowly developing, following the meeting of the Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli ministers last September. Moreover, there is an urgent need to compete with the Asian economies, especially China and India. To that goal Israel and Jordan should look beyond the current Qualified Industrial Zones agreements (QIZ) that deal, for example, with mass-produced textiles and instead they should concentrate on manufactured products and industrial innovation. In the wake of existing research cooperation programs, the investment in more complex, expensive and sophisticated products would create more jobs and higher income and as a result bring more prosperity.

This meeting did not only put forward the great achievements and the consolidation of the bilateral agreements. It also presented the latest developments and emphasized the new protocol of the Israel – Jordan Trade Agreement, which entered into force in September 2005.

Whereas the first business meetings concentrated more on the Israel – Jordan – US Qualified Industrial Zones agreements that came into effect in 1996, the new bilateral trade agreement puts the accent on the Pan EuroMed initiative that started 10 years ago with the Barcelona process and proceeded in 2003 with the European neighborhood policy. This initiative will be soon put into effect between Israel, Jordan and the European Union. Beyond these relations, Europe also sees the importance of Israeli – Palestinian – EU trilateral trade relations (the Paris protocol) in which Jordan could be involved.

In view of this new trade policy and its tremendous potential, the organizers realized the need to open the floor to specialists and for the benefit of all business people present, they consecrated most of the second session to an intensive, technical but practical survey of the "Pan EuroMED Cumulation" agreement in which 41 countries participate.

While most speakers stressed the need to go beyond the current Qualified Industrial Zones agreements, the European representatives were also eager to emphasize that the QIZ agreement and "Pan EuroMED Cumulation" do benefit both countries and should lead to more liberalization and the creation of a regional free trade area by 2010. Meetings are scheduled between Jordan, Israel, the US and the EU in order to further upgrade the trade relations between Israel and Jordan and find ways to export this model of economic relations to the entire region.

Catherine Hirschwitz