India-Jordan bilateral trade was valued at all time high of US$ 4.425 billion in the he previous financial year (April 2022 - March 2023), recording an exceptional growth of 63 percent, said India's Ambassador to Jordan Anwar Halim. In an interview with the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on the occasion of his country's 77th Independence Day, the envoy said that India is a long rooted partner for Jordan in the supplies of food items, mechanical and electrical goods, engineering products, gems and jewelry, oil products and leather, while Jordan is a long and reliable supplier of fertilizers, phosphates, phosphoric acid etc for India, which is the biggest single buyer of phosphates from Jordan. The two countries, he continued, have set a trade target of $5 billion to reach by 2025 and have also agreed to further diversify the trade basket. He pointed out that Indian investments in phosphates and textiles amount to more than US$ 1.3 billion, adding that the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) and Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative (IFFCO) established a joint venture project worth US$ 860 million for manufacturing Phosphoric Acid. This was jointly inaugurated by King Abdullah II and then President of India Pranab Mukherjee during the latter's visit to Jordan in 2015. The JPMC and Arab Potash Company signed memoranda of understanding and agreements with a number of Indian fertilizer companies and manufacturers worth US$ 2.5 billion, he indicated, pointing out that over 15 garment companies, owned by Indians, with cumulative investment of around US$ 500 million are located in the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs) and all finished products being exported outside Jordan which amounts to more than a billion USD worth of garments. India, the envoy stressed, considers Jordan an important partner in the region as the two countries strive for global peace and stability, are committed to multilateralism and share common concerns in international fora. He underscored the importance of King Abdullah's visit to India and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jordan, which have led to the signing of several memoranda of understanding and agreements during these visits to strengthen bilateral cooperation in a number of areas. "In recent years, the two countries have been further strengthening their ties in the field of technology and education. One of the most notable examples of this cooperation is the India-Jordan Center of Excellence in Information Technology (IJ-CoEIT). The IJ-CoEIT is a state-of-the-art IT facility that was established by the Government of India in Jordan at the Al-Hussein Technical University. The center is equipped with a super computer and provides training to Jordanian experts and professionals in a variety of IT fields. It is envisioned that 3000 Jordanian experts/professionals would be nurtured at the Center in premium technological fields in a span of five years," Halim said. When asked about the Indian Community in Jordan, the envoy noted that there are over 17,000 Indians residing in Jordan and are primarily employed in textile, construction, manufacturing, fertilizer companies, health care sector, universities, IT, finance and multilateral organizations. On co-operation in the field of Counter Terrorism, the envoy pointed out that the two countries have been active partners in collaborating on initiatives on counter terrorism co-operation, underlining that India is an active participant of Aqaba process and that it greatly appreciate the importance of Aqaba Process in facilitating regular, comprehensive dialogue on counter-terrorism among global stakeholders. He stated that India would be hosting the G-20 summit in September 2023 under the theme, 'One Earth, One Family, One Future', symbolizing hope and our goal to bring the world together for global good to shape a new paradigm - of human-centric globalisation. "India is keen to be the voice of the developing countries on the G20 platform on issues such as Sustainable lifestyles, food security, energy transition, use of digital technology for development and inclusion and inclusive development," he said.
Source: Jordan News Agency