Jordan denies reports on a railway project with Israel

The Jordanian transport minister Saoud Nseirat said that there are no talks between Jordan and Israel over a project to build a railway linking between Haifa port north of Israel and the Jordanian Irbid city, in contrary to Israeli reports to this effect.

The Israeli transport minister Maer Shitrit announced on Monday that he intends to propose the building of a railway linking between Haifa and Irbid during a meeting for the transport ministers in the region of Europe and the Mediterranean basin which will be held in the Moroccan Marrakesh city on Tuesday.

In a statement to this effect, Shitrit said that "the infrastructure for transport is important for the development of the economy and therefore I am all hope that we will be able by the support of the Europeans to implement the line which will be the first of its kind between Jordan and Israel and extends between the two cities of Haifa and Irbid."

The line which is at a cost of $300 million is expected to pass through King Hussein Bridge and Jenin city in the West Bank and will be a new road for the access of the Jordanian goods to the European markets.

Both Jordan and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1994, however, trade lines between the two countries are still limited. The Israeli minister expressed his hope to get the European support to finance a railway between the Israeli southern Ashdoud city and Gaza.