Jordan suspends licenses for Syrian imports

For the second time the Jordanian Ministry of Trade and Industry has suspended its measures to give shipping traders necessary importing licenses for commodities imported from Syria. The same measures were taken in mid-July.

The Jordanian daily Akhbar al-Osbo said on Saturday that the Jordanian Ministry of Trade and Industry has recently reported the imposition of customs fees on commodities exported from Syria under the pretext of pressuring it to increase its imports from Jordan and to obstruct the entry of Syrian products which have a Jordanian substitute.

The paper added that merchants continued to import from Syria. To do so they depend on a Jordanian law which exempts imports from Syria from custom fees according to an agreement signed between the two countries in 1975.

The paper noted that there are 218 Jordanian merchants whose interests are threatened because the ministry stopped giving the importing licenses. The paper added that the Jordanian merchants expressed their regret over this measure, which they said harms the Jordanian economy and the interests of its citizens.