A 150-member Jordanian business delegation leaves for the West Bank town of Ramallah Sunday to participate in a Palestinian businessmen's conference due to open on Monday, reported the Jordan Times.
The delegation's leader, Haidar Murad, head of the federation of the kingdom's chambers of commerce told the English daily the Jordanian and Palestinian sides will conduct talks to advance trade relations and launch joint economic ventures.
Jordanian and Palestinian officials have agreed to establish a joint industrial zone close to the common border near the West Bank town of Jericho, the Jordan Times quoted the Minister of Industry and Trade Wasef Azar as saying.
Azar told the Times that he met the Palestinian Minister of Industry and Trade, Maher Masri, to discuss the formation of a technical committee to conduct a feasibility study, and this committee will be taking a decision soon before the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who will be approached to finance this project.
Murad said Jordan's trade with Palestine is hampered by Israel, which he said, monopolizes the Palestinian market, selling nearly $2.6 billion worth of Israeli good. Overall Jordanian-Palestinian trade exchanges reach a mere $30 million annually, according to the paper.
He said Israel's approval will have to be secured.
According to Azar, Jordan and Palestine are drawing up an agreement for the creation of a free trade zone and are determined to remove all obstacles in the path of trade, the Jordan Times said – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
