Jordan to renew trade with Lanka

It is time to re-activate the 2007 Agreement and start vigourous bilateral trade, the Delhi-based Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to Sri Lanka, Hassan Al Jawarneh told Industry and Commerce Minister Rishard Bathiudeen when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister last week.

According to Commerce Department sources, Sri Lanka's trade with Jordan has considerably increased over the years. Trade which stood at US $ 26.19 million in 2002, increased to US $ 44.50 million in 2013. The balance of trade has been in favour of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's major export item to Jordan is tea, which contributes over 81% of Sri Lanka's exports to Jordan.

Sri Lanka is the largest tea supplier to Jordan which is also the fourth largest buyer of tea bags from Sri Lanka.

Other Lankan exports are coconut, cashew nuts, sewing thread and pepper. Three Sri Lankan firms - MAS, DIP Apparels, and EAM Maliban Textiles Jordan - operate factories in Jordan.

In 2013, Jordan invested US $ 0.287 million in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is also a key human resource supplier to Jordan. More than 40,000 Lankans are employed in the Kingdom.

"We signed the new bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2007 replacing the previous agreement of 1965. Let us now get really practical. It is time to re-activate the 2007 Agreement and start vigorous bilateral trade," Ambassador Jawarneh said.

"The last Joint Commission (JC) meeting was held in Colombo in 2008. We are open to suggestions from Sri Lanka including trade expansion, B2B delegations, and even trade fairs," he said. "It's now time for you to come to Jordan for the next Joint Commission meeting this year. We can start the exchange of regular business delegations with the re-activation of the JC. We are also well-known as a supplier of fertiliser and related resources such as phosphates. We invite Sri Lankan agro importers to avail of our abundant supplies," the Ambassador said.