Investment Ministry calls for pan-Arab economic integration

AMMAN — Secretary General of the Ministry of Investment Zaher Qatarneh on Thursday stressed the need to support pan-Arab economic integration and to strengthen joint relations in investment and trade, especially considering that inter-Arab trade represents 13.8 per cent of Arab countries' total foreign trade.

Taking part in the first session of the Regional Investment Conference, Qatarneh referred to the "low" share of Arab countries in foreign direct investment flows, accounting for only 2.4 per cent between 2012 and 2021, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He said that the new investment environment bill grants multiple "attractive, feasible and unprecedented" incentives to investors, including the exemption of fixed assets, production requirements and spare parts from customs duties as well as reducing the general sales tax on commodities to percentage amounting to zero to many of them.

During a session titled: "Political Horizons and Arab Investment Cooperation," the secretary general said that the Kingdom enters its second centennial by focusing on three modernisation plans in the political and economic fields and in public sector development.

The Economic Modernisation Vision provides an economic roadmap for the next 10 years, and constitutes an important turning point for the country, he said.

Qatarneh noted that this vision would unleash the national economy's potential to achieve comprehensive and sustainable economic growth, increase the Kingdom's GDP to some $82 billion by 2033, compared with the current value of nearly $43 billion, and employ more than one million young people in the Jordanian labour market.