Shamali holds slew of meetings in Baghdad over trade cooperation

AMMAN — The Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labour Yousef Shamali and an accompanying delegation on Wednesday met with several Iraqi ministers and officials in Baghdad over mechanisms for boosting cooperation between the two countries.

Shamali, who is heading a high-level delegation representing the Jordanian public and private sectors during the 29th session of Joint Jordanian-Iraqi Committee, said that there are many projects being implemented between the two countries in order to boost bilateral cooperation in various areas, most prominent of which are the joint economic estate project, electrical connectivity and the oil pipeline.

Shamali met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdulghani, Minister of Industry and Minerals and head of the Iraqi delegation in the Iraqi-Jordanian joint committee Khaled Al Battal, and Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Ahmed Al Asadi, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al Sudani received Shamali and the accompanying delegation.

Shamali said that Jordanian-Iraqi relations are "complementary", and serve joint interests.

He added that the two countries' governments are working with "utmost seriousness" in coordination with the Egyptian side to complete the implementation of the outcomes of the trilateral summits that brought together leaders of Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, especially in achieving industrial integration and promoting food security.

The minister said that the joint committee meetings will discuss multiple issues to improve existing frameworks of cooperation between the two countries.

Trade exchange between Jordan and Iraq during the first 10 months of 2022 reached some JD645 million, marking an increase of 7 per cent compared with the same period in 2021, Petra reported.

Shamali and Asadi also signed an agreement on employment, vocational training and social development.

For their part, the ministers and officials that met with Shamali stressed the importance of accelerating strategic projects between the two countries and stimulating the private sector to take advantage of available opportunities.

They also stressed the importance of continuing joint action to increase the volume of trade exchange, establish investments in both countries, exchange expertise, cooperate in the areas of employment and vocational training and to take advantage of Jordan's expertise in this field.

The technical meetings of the Joint Committee’s 29th session commenced on Wednesday. Committee meetings are to be held on Thursday under the co-chairmanship of Shamali and Battal.

More than 100 Jordanian businesspeople, representing different sectors, and a large number of their Iraqi counterparts are participating in the Business Forum held on the sidelines of the committee meetings.