Jordan one of Sweden’s ‘good friends’ in region — minister

AMMAN — Economic ties between Jordan and Sweden have “huge” potential for growth, especially as the two countries capitalise on their different strengths, a senior Swedish official said.

In an interview with The Jordan Times late last week, Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi expressed his optimism over the future of Jordanian-Swedish ties at all levels.

“Jordan and Sweden have great relations. Jordan is one of our good friends in the region,” he said, citing Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour’s visit to Stockholm in August as part of the two countries’ commitment to boosting cooperation.

Shekarabi was in the Kingdom last week as head of a business delegation.

The main aim of the visit, according to the minister, was to enhance bilateral trade relations and broaden Stockholm’s knowledge about the UN’s current needs and procurement system in the Middle East.

The delegation, the third of its kind to visit Jordan since 2009, comprised 16 Swedish companies working in ICT, water, health and energy.

“These companies represent broad aspects of the economic activities of Swedish businesses. We have the ambition to strengthen our economic ties. We want to give better opportunities for Swedish companies to cooperate with the Jordanian private sector,” Shekarabi said.

The minister also cited “big opportunities between the two countries concerning UN procurement”.

“It is a win-win situation to cooperate with Jordan within the UN system,” he noted.

However, Shekarabi highlighted that the existing trade cooperation between Amman and Stockholm is “quite limited”.

Swedish Ambassador to Jordan Helena Gröndahl Rietz agreed, noting that Swedish exports to the Kingdom stand at $100 million.

Shekarabi said there are “big” Swedish companies in “being active in the Jordanian economy”, particularly those operating in the areas of ICT, water supply and energy.

The minister also addressed the Syrian refugee situation, stressing the need for more international cooperation to reach short- and long-term solutions to the crisis.

The Swedish delegation also paid a visit to the Azraq Refugee Camp, some 100km east of Amman and 20km west of the town of Azraq in Zarqa Governorate, and met with several UN representatives.

“Jordan has been carrying a heavy burden since the start of the Syrian conflict,” Shekarabi said, adding that the number of Syrian refugees in Sweden is also on the rise, reaching 90,000 since the beginning of the crisis. “And the number is increasing every day.”

The Swedish official noted that in the previous week, Sweden witnessed the highest influx of asylum seekers in one week, receiving over 9,000.

Shekarabi said he was “impressed” with the level of cooperation between the Jordanian government and UN agencies.

While the Kingdom and Sweden are not signatories to aid agreements, Gröndahl Rietz said Sweden has made “big humanitarian donations to the Syrian crisis”.

“We also have development cooperation programmes that include Jordan, but they are regional. The idea is to bring added value on a regional level and we are working on [files related to] human rights and democracy, supporting economic integration and the management of water resources,” the ambassador told The Jordan Times.

Shekarabi expressed hope that the delegation’s visit would be a starting point for broader cooperation and exploring new investment opportunities.

During the visit, he met with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and discussed economic ties and the need to increase the bilateral trade volume.

“The talks were very constructive and we hope to have more talks on the political level,” Shekarabi said.