H.E. The US Ambassador to Jordan Mrs. Alice G. Wells visited JBA on Sat. 8/8/2015 . HE M. Hamdi Tabba’a , JBA Chairman welcomed the Ambassador and expressed the business community’s high appreciation for the US economic assistance to Jordan .JBA Chairman briefed the Ambassador on JBA’s role in promoting Jordan’s economic relations through its wide network of 40 business councils with most of Arab Countries and friendly countries. He praised the Free Trade Agreement between Jordan and US that was signed in 2000 and became effective in 2001 , the FTA boosted the bilateral trade exchanges between the two countries to around $3.4 bill , He added, making the US the 2nd export market for Jordan and the 3rd importing source to Jordan , He also expressed the private sector ‘s hope for additional US investments , since the current volume of investment is around $2.2 bill while the FTA and the distinguished bilateral relations between both countries provide various investment opportunities for US investors in addition to the attractive investment climate and security and stability that the kingdom enjoys , He gave examples of successful Jordanian investments in the US such as AL Hikma Pharmaceuticals Co. and Petra Engineering Co. Mr. Tabba’a praised the US support for the economy through direct budget support, technical assistance and USAID programs , and the recent agreement with the Ministry of Labour to present $40 mill for a project aiming to develop the Jordanian workforce , Mr. Tabba’a asked for the private sector involvement in this program through the establishment of a steering committee from the private & public sectors representatives in order to ensure the success of the project . He also reviewed the main challenges facing the Jordanian economy among which are the budget deficit, public debt and energy , in this regard he called upon our friends in the US administration to support Jordan’s request from the Saudi Government to implement the joint electricity network that will provide Jordan with its needs from cheaper source of electricity thus supporting the industry to be able to compete in the export markets , on the business community level he called for the establishment of the Jordanian- US Business Council . On Her part H.E. Mrs. Wells expressed appreciation for JBA’S role in the development of the Jordanian economy and willingness to provide all possible assistance to enhance the bilateral relations especially on the private sector level and to exert all efforts to maximize the benefit from the FTA in order to widen the scope of exchanged commodities and to boost US investments in Jordan .
The meeting was also attended by HE Mr. Thabet Al Taher , JBA Vice Chairman, and Board Members: Awni Saket, Yussri Tahboub, Hussam AL Hudhud, and Tareq Hijazi , JBA Director General
