Jordan cancels decision to boycott exports from Syria
Jordan-Syria, Economics, 7/20/1998

The Jordanian weekly al-Naithaq issued on Sunday in Amman said that Jordan's minister of trade and industry has given up his decision to ban Syrian exports after he was pressured by Jordanian traders and industrialists last week, when they announced an open strike.

The paper added that the decision to stop granting import licenses to Syria, issued by Minister Hani al-Malqi especially in regard to Syrian textiles and the underwear, served the Israeli garments factory in al-Hassan city in Irbid. The factory was opened following the signing of the Wadi Araba agreement at a time when the Jordanian government evacuated Arab investments and several Jordanian ones to Egypt and the Gulf states.

The paper added that Israel considers Jordan its gate to the Arab states and imposes normalization against it through imposing its products on the Arab states, a matter which Syria fears and tries to prevent. For this purpose, the paper added, Syria, whenever it imports from Jordan, asks for documents including the names of the company, its owners and names of the partners and their nationalities, a matter which upsets the Jordanian government.

The paper added that it learned the decision made by the Jordanian minister was a means to pressure Syria to alleviate its measures and increase volume of its imports from Jordan. The paper questioned why Jordan did not practice the same pressure on Israel to open its markets and the markets of the West Bank and the Gaza strip before the Jordanian products as states in the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia, Egypt mediate between Syria and Jordan   (7/6/1998)
  Jordanian deputy complains that Syrian border authorities abused him   (6/25/1998)
  Syrian - Jordanian agreement to finance constructing al-Wehda Dam   (5/19/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search