The Economic Forum at JBA received on Wed. 6/11/2013 HE Ms. Joanna Wronecka, Head of The Delegation of the European Union/EU Ambassador in Amman in an open discussion with JBA members on the future of Jordan- EU trade relations within the frame work of the Partnership Agreement and EU role in the development of the private sector in Jordan .
In his opening speech HE Mr. Hamdi Tabba’a reviewed the EU –Jordanian economic relations as Jordan is always considered a strategic partner to EU countries at all levels, especially the economic relations since the activation of the Partnership Agreement in 2002, the trade exchanges in particular, have been growing continuously with EU exports to Jordan reaching 3.8 bill Euro last year , but unfortunately, on the other hand , the Jordanian exports to EU within the frame work of the Partnership Agreement are not up to expectations and way beyond the potentials , In this context , he pointed out that the private sector in Jordan is facing difficulties in penetrating EU markets , mainly due to the strict rules of origin in the Agreement , the lack of the knowledge on the EU marketing channels and also we believe that the entry visa regulations to EU Countries are strict and complicated and impose an additional constraint to the movement of businessmen , although Jordan offers visas to EU nationals with hardly any requirements . On the financial and technical cooperation levels , the private sector in Jordan highly appreciates the EU financial and technical assistance and capacity building programs through the EU private sector development programs offered by the Public sector institutions, such as JEDCO , and also the EU historic assistance programs for the Government of Jordan that reached hundreds of millions , in addition to the cooperation and technical assistance offered to many sectors in Jordan such as infrastructure projects in the fields of water, energy, education , healthcare and consultancy .
the private sector also appreciates the opening of the European bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD )offices in Amman , a step we consider crucial for the enhancement of the EU Jordanian relations on the private sector level and the anticipated vast services offered by EBRD . In this regard , JBA received earlier this year , delegations from EBRD introducing the services offered by the bank and its assistance programs for the private sector, in light of Jordan’s recent membership which enables the country to benefit from the Bank’s assistance in the field of SME’s financing program and investment in major energy and water projects , in addition to upgrading the private sector capabilities , and offering soft loans to the private sector projects in the different fields of the economy. JBA was honored to receive in 2011 an EU capacity building grant through JEDCO which was successfully fulfilled and contributed to the development of JBA services to its members .
HE Ms. Joanna Wronecka and the accompanying representatives from EU Commission briefed JBA members on the latest developments on the Partnership Agreement and the launching of negotiations with the Gov. of Jordan to conclude a free trade agreement with Jordan opening new horizons for economic relations beyond the scope of the partnership agreement to include liberalizing the services sector as well. S he also explained the future technical assistance for the industrial & services sectors , and she invited the private sector to be involved through submitting recommendations on the Single Support Framework SSF that will be adopted for 2014-2017.
