Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 20 / Trend S. Agayeva /
Azerbaijani Government and Jordan are preparing for talks on trade and economic cooperation.
Talks will take place in February or April next year in Baku during the second meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Jordan Elman Arasli told Trend over telephone from Amman on Monday.
An earlier meeting scheduled for Dec.23-24 will now take place in February or April next year at the request of the Jordanian delegates. Arasli said the request is due to discussions of the new program by the Government of Jordan with the newly elected Parliament of the country.
November saw parliamentary elections in Jordan. Independent candidates and centrists who supported the government of Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai ensured successful elections. Parties close to King Abdullah II, which constitutes the current government, received a significant majority in the new parliament.
Both parties exhibit sufficient potential and, most importantly, mutual interest to develop cooperation in developing trade and economic relations. The forthcoming meeting of the commission will discuss relevant prospects, Arasli said in an interview with Trend.
In a short period of time Azerbaijan and Jordan established a solid contractual- legal basis. Since 2006, more than 30 intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements, covering a wide range of issues of cooperation in various sectors, have been concluded since 2006, Arasli stressed.
The first meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission took place in February 2009 in Amman.
Today the Azerbaijani market showcases products of over ten Jordanian companies operating mainly in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Recently, one of Azeri's companies initiated active cooperation with Jordanian partners to import agricultural products.
"In general the level of trade turnover between the two countries is still small, but after a few years there has been a steady growth, according to indicators. Available data shows trade turnover reached at least 40 percent last year," the diplomat pointed out.
According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, the amount of trade between Jordan and Azerbaijan in January-August amounted to $1.5 million.