AMMAN, 3 June 2007 — Jordanian Minister of Trade and Industry Salem Khazaleh and his Iraqi counterpart Falah Al-Sudani on Friday started negotiations for the establishment of a free trade zone between the two countries, according to an official statement. The move was one of several steps the two countries discussed for boosting bilateral and economic cooperation and removing obstacles that still hindered the restoration of merchandise between the two countries to the pre-2003 level.
“We look forward to building up special economic ties with Iraq in all spheres, especially as Iraq remained for a long period of time Jordan’s number one trade partner,” Khazaleh said.
The Jordanian minister urged the Iraqi government to pay the Jordanian goods that were exported by industrialists to Iraq before and after 1992 outside the Jordanian-Iraqi protocol that was concluded under the regime of late leader Saddam Hussein.
Al-Sudani promised to remove all impediments that so far blocked the restoration of normal trade ties between Iraq and Jordan, the statement said.
He said that an Iraqi technical team would be visiting Jordan in June to “settle all outstanding issues” between the two countries.
However, he said that “lack of security on the highway between Iraq and Jordan had affected the volume of trade with Jordan.”
“Accordingly, the implementation of a protocol that was signed last year for supplying Jordan with part of its energy needs is being shelved until security was ensured for overland transport,” the Iraqi minister said.
