ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Jordan have agreed to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, banking, energy and other economic sectors, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said on Thursday. 

The understanding was reached between the two sides at a meeting of the Pakistan-Jordan Inter-ministerial Commission in Islamabad on Thursday. 

Pakistan enjoys cooperation with Jordan in several sectors including trade, defense and minerals. Jordan was the fifth country to recognize Pakistan after it secured independence in 1947. The two nations established formal diplomatic ties in 1948. 

“Areas which cover a very diversified sectoral approach from trade and investment, industrial development, banking and finance, agriculture and livestock, higher education, vocational training, labor, health, climate change, maritime, energy, mineral resources and many more,” Khan said at a news conference with Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade Yarub Qudah. 

The Pakistani minister said it was a “very good opportunity” for both sides to transform their brotherly relations into economic cooperation. 

Qudah agreed with Khan, saying it was time for Islamabad and Amman to take their economic and trade relations to “a totally different level.”

“We have also agreed to have a working group that will work this year on different sectors and also the establishment of the Pakistan-Jordan Business Council,” he said.

He invited Khan to Jordan to hold talks on further cooperation, adding that the 11th meeting of the inter-ministerial commission will be held in Jordan next year. 

The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Jordan stood at $46.58 million in 2023. Pakistan’s main exports to Jordan include textiles, rice, ethyl alcohol, polymers of styrene, sugar confectionaries, nuts and dried fruits.

Meanwhile, Pakistan mainly imports mineral and chemical fertilizers, ferrous waste and scrap, inorganic acids, chemicals, medicaments and seeds from Jordan.