Jordan and Britain on Sunday, July 22, signed an agreement to prevent double taxation to help increase British investments in this country, an official source said. The accord was signed by Jordan's Finance Minister Michel Marto and a British Foreign Office minister, Ben Bradshaw, who was visiting as part of a Middle East tour, the source said.
It also aims to provide for "information exchanges between the two countries on cases of financial fraud, permitting the promotion of British investment in Jordan and reinforcing economic cooperation" between Amman and London, he said.
The investments are expected to be aimed at the kingdom's transport sector and automobile industry. British automaker Land Rover in April launched construction of an assembly plant in southern Jordan due to start production next year. Nearly $50 million was invested in the first phase of the project.
And in May, Jordan's government agreed to sell 80 percent of the catering branch of the national airline, Royal Jordanian (RJ), to British firm Alpha for $20 million.
Marto also examined with Bradshaw "the possibility of converting into investments" more of Jordan's debt to Britain, which is estimated at nearly $500 million. Britain, which is Jordan's third creditor behind Japan and France, decided in January to convert into investments 90 million pounds ($131 million) of Jordan's debt.
Bradshaw earlier Sunday held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II on the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The British official was in June appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs in charge of the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. He has already visited Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories, and is scheduled to continue his regional tour in Syria and Lebanon. ― (AFP, Amman)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
