Jordan and Kuwait on Tuesday initialed a draft free trade agreement (FTA) that will eliminate tariffs on two-way trade when it enters into force early next year, the Jordan Times reported Wednesday.
Samer Tawil, the secretary general of trade and industry ministry, said the Jordanian-Kuwaiti Preparatory Committee concluded its meetings in Amman by signing the FTA, which is expected to be endorsed soon by the trade ministers of both sides.
The pact, according to Tawil, will replace the 1986 bilateral trade protocol as “it no longer complies with the World Trade Organization’s rules or meets legislative developments in both countries.”
The meetings, co-headed by Tawil and his Kuwait counterpart Bader Abdul Rahim, discussed means of enhancing the flow of goods and boosting exports between the two states, whose trade balance does not exceed $50 million annually, the Amman-based paper said.
The talks also involved cooperation in taxation, clearance and transportation.
Jordanian-Kuwaiti fences were mended last year after they had been severed for a decade since the Gulf War – Albawaba.com
