Economic Jordanian Delegation organized by JEBA – Jordanian European Business Association – visiting Hungary currently has mapped the way for improving Economic and Commercial relations between the two countries.

The relationship between the two countries exists upon political heritage that goes back to 1964 and is based upon a high mutual respect, topped with His Majesty’s King Abdullah second visit to Budapest in 2007, followed by the Hungarian President’s visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2008.

This forum which adds a new course in building relationships and increasing the value of commercial exchange is welcomed by the Official Hungarian side. It  involves lots of meetings with the Economic-related Ministers in the Hungarian government, including Ministers of Energy, Industry, Transport, Agriculture and the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor.

The Hungarian Party has responded to JEBA’s President, Mr. Issa Haidar Murad invitation to establish a Jordanian-Hungarian Business Forum when the Hungarian Prime Minister visits Jordan at the beginning of next year.

The Hungarian side has shown great interest in founding a new framework for the commercial relations between the two countries and overcoming all obstacles and challenges specially regarding the Jordanian Exports to the Hungarian market and the support for these to enter the European market. The Hungarian side also expressed its desire to build a logistic center in Budapest to re-export the Jordanian Agricultural Products to Europe and the import of olives and grapes products from Jordan in return of exporting livestock and live food industry products.

The two countries have opportunities that appeared through the first five months of this year as the Jordanian imports from Hungary reached around 26 million euros, and an export of 5 million euros which indicates the desire to work together to push the commercial exchange forward.

The Hungarian Economy has great expertise in the industry of making and assembling cars and machines, information technology, scientific research, water desalination, agricultural production and food industry.

Mr. Murad highlighted the role of the private sector in the two countries, the importance to work together and build commercial partnerships and investments and search new opportunities that hasn’t been yet targeted in economic sectors such as pharmaceuticals, energy, information technology, training in the industrial sectors, health, therapeutic tourism, phosphate and potash. He also added that extra attention is given by the Jordanian party to develop relations with Hungary and benefit more from the Jordanian-European Partnership Agreement that was signed ten years ago and has achieved great success. He reflected on the national economy and underligned the  further development in addition to the financial support and donations to develop production sectors. He also said “that the aim of this visit is to establish  strong partnerships and benefits from Hungarian experiences in developing tourism, increasing agricultural and pharmaceutical export and strengthen cooperation between small and medium companies and the services sector”. He also explained to the Hungarian side what Jordan has achieved from Political reforms that included constitutional amendments, the establishment of the Constitutional Court, the achievement of a new election law that the parliament election will go in accordance with emphasizing that the Kingdom is living a spring that is totally different from what other neighbouring countries are going through as broadcasted on television.

Jordan's Honorary Consul in Hungary Zaid Naffa said that the relationship between the two countries is strong, strategic and based on mutual respect and honesty. He added that Hungary is one of the most European countries that imports agricultural products from Jordan, in addition to fruits, vegetables, chemicals and medicine. He also highlighted the many cooperation agreements between the two countries in fields like health, transportation, scientific research, investment, agriculture, tourism and fighting crime and terrorism.

A number of members talked during meetings about investment opportunities available in Jordan. Mr. Jamal Badran indicated the opportunity of investing in the energy field as Jordan is one of the first countries that achieved a law for renewable energy and said that Jordan has ready engineering and technical staff to enter this field and provide a great opportunity for investment in it.

The general manager of a technology and consulting company, Mr. Ziyad Allan talked about Jordanian expertise from public and private sectors in this field since the seventies and mentioned links with international companies that has regional offices in Jordan. He also added that Jordan companies has major existence in this field in the Gulf and North Africa and that Jordan looks forward to build partnership in this field with Hungarian companies.

Mr. Odeh Al Rawashdeh, President of the Jordanian Agricultural General Union talked about the great possibilities Jordan has that enabled its agricultural products to reach different international  markets due to its high specifications. He also said that planting in Jordan lasts all year long which means the availability of products in all seasons and that is what European countries need hoping that Hungary would be a logistic center  for Jordanian  products. Mr. Al Rawashdeh requested the Hungarian side to give the Jordanian fruit and vegetable exports extra facilities when entering Hungarian land indicating that merchants and exporters face some obstacles and wait for long before their  goods are allowed to go through.

General Manager of a transportation company, Mr. Samir Al Naber highlighted the role of the transportation sector in facilitating the trade and transit between Jordan and neighbouring and world countries due to its strategic location and the availability of a developed transport fleet. He also said that Jordan is working on an Economic corridor with Romania to facilitate the flow of Jordanian goods to the European market. He talked about the Jordanian- Hungarian cooperation in this field  since many years and the development of the logistic services regarding the distribution of Jordanian goods in EU countries.

The delegation also consisted of representatives of the banking sector, air conditioning, sanitary ware, building and construction, energy, stone and granite, information technology, food industry, cargo, security, vehicles and heavy machinery, agriculture, tourism, and investment.

Fruits and vegetables, medicine, beauty products, wood furniture are considered the most important Jordanian exports to Hungarian market while Jordan imports cheese, medicine, corn, insecticide, paper, live cows, iron, textile and other goods.

Mr. Samir Hamdan and Mr. Zuhair Awad Jordanian Investors attended the delegation’s meetings.

Source: Budapest-Petra-Saif Al Deen Al Sawalha