Jordan discusses free trade agreement with the Gulf states

The secretary general of the Jordanian ministry of industry and commerce said that his country is to prepare for the free trade agreement with the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC with specialized sides.

The Jordanian official said that the agreement is comprehensive and includes exemption from customs fees and other taxes. The forthcoming agreement includes cooperation in the economic, technical, investment, labor and financial fields.

The Jordanian side asks the GCC side to find out the mechanism to develop trade exchange and facilitate the flow of commodities without imposing any customs restrictions and holding promotion exhibitions for commodities and production for the two sides.

Jordan aims at increasing opportunities of exporting its products to the neighboring states. By the end of 2004, Jordan signed an agreement for trade and economic exchange with Israel.

The agreement aims at increasing chances of exporting products to the European market, tax free. It also includes exempting the Israeli exports to Jordan from customs which used to be taxed at 10%.