AMMAN: Jordan and Turkey Sunday signed about a dozen agreements and protocols to regulate and expand cooperation in a wide range of sectors, after talks between the prime ministers of the two countries.
During the talks, attended by ministers and officials from the two countries. Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu discussed bilateral relations and ways of boosting them in economic, trade and investment field. The two sides also tackled regional conditions and efforts to combat terrorism.
Welcoming the Turkish premier, Ensour said his visit is “a clear sign of his vision of the potentials available to foster bilateral relations into broader scopes”, noting the “historic ties and friendship that existed over the past years”. He said Jordan had attached special importance to forging closer political and economic relations with Turkey since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1937. The prime minister offered his condolences to the Turkish people over the victims of the “barbaric” terrorist attacks that hit Istanbul earlier this month, which prompted the Turkish premier to postpone his trip to Amman for one week.
He said such cowardly attacks, which killed or injured many innocent civilians, “did not represent us in any way or form or reflect the Islamic teachings of peace, tolerance and reasoning”.
Ensour said the region is passing through unprecedented challenges, which required security forces in the two countries to ramp up cooperation and stand side by side with the international community to face the dangers of terrorism and extremism.
On economic ties, Ensour said Jordan was ready to discuss ways and opportunities for cooperation and to launch initiatives and joint ventures, stressing the private sector’s role in building partnerships.
He noted that a free trade agreement, which the two countries signed and became valid in 2011, had helped to raise the trade volume from $57 million in 2010 to $170 million in 2014, an increase of 199 per cent, while imports from Turkey increased from $560 million to $850 million in the same period.
However, Jordan’s exports had dropped by 43.5 per cent in 2015, due to the closure of the Syrian borders following the events there, he noted. Ensour called upon Turkish businessmen to benefit from Jordan’s strategic location and the free trade agreements that link the Kingdom with several countries and turned it into a gateway to international markets.
He said he was satisfied with the recent opening in Amman of an office of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), noting it offers technical support and capacity building.
The Turkish prime minister said his trip, the fist to the Kingdom since he took office, and mutual high-level visits are of special importance, adding that cementing relations with Jordan will be a top priority. He said that Turkey and Jordan shared common challenges as they host a huge number of Syrian refugees.
Davutoglu underlined that Jordan’s security and stability is vital to the security of the entire region. He noted that the Jordanian-Turkish free trade agreement had contributed to doubling the trade volume to about $1 billion, and expressed his keen interest to raise Turkish investment in the Kingdom, adding “that’s why I brought a delegation of Turkish businessmen with me”.
Davutoglu pointed to the prospect of increasing exports via the northern Iskenderun port in Turkey and Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba, and using Iskenderun to access Europe.
He underlined the environmental and water management importance of Jordan’s Red-Dead Canal project, noting that Turkish companies had the expertise in such ventures, and referring to the Turkish firm that carried out the Disi water conveyance project.
The Turkish premier also said his country’s firms were interested in the other projects of renewable energy, transportation and railways in Jordan, as well as increasing cooperation in the tourism sector.
The two sides discussed possibility of hosting Turkish pilgrims in Jordan during their journey to Saudi Arabia and arrange visits to Jerusalem. Also, they discussed increased cooperation between the two countries to counter terrorism and terrorist gangs.
In the presence of the two premiers, Jordan and Turkey signed the agreements and memorandums of understanding that cover a wide range of sectors, including a cooperation agreement between Jordan News Agency (Petra) and Anadolu Turkish News Agency.
