Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb on Friday left for Bahrain to attend a high-level meeting aimed at reaching a series of accords to bolster investments and economic ties, officials said.
Abu Ragheb, who is accompanied by several cabinet ministers and experts, will co-chair with Bahrain's Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa the two-day meeting of the Bahrain-Jordan cooperation committee which begins on Saturday, July 21.
The meeting, according to officials in Amman and Manama, is expected to seal a number of accords on investments and exports and to examine ways of increasing the role of the private sector in commercial relations. The Bahraini daily Al-Ayyam said earlier this month that Manama was also expected to suggest a revision of a 1995 trade agreement with Jordan in an effort to boost bilateral trade volumes.
But the secretary general of Jordan's ministry of trade and industry, Samer Tawil, in statements to the Amman press Friday from Manama said that the two countries would either agree on that, or on setting up a joint free trade area.
Tawil also expected Jordan and Bahrain to seal accords in various fields including economy, tourism and transportation, and to announce the formation of a business council from the private sectors of both countries.
Last year the volume of trade between the two countries reached 15.5 million dinars ($22 million), with Jordanian exports to Bahrain at 10.5 million ($14.7 million), according to official estimates. — (AFP)
© Agence France Presse
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
