JCC head praises King’s efforts to remove obstacles facing businesses

AMMAN — Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Chairman, Nael Kabariti, has said that His Majesty King Abdullah has placed the economy at the top of his priorities through his continued directives to remove obstacles facing the business environment in the Kingdom. In a statement on the occasion of the King’s birthday, Kabariti indicated that a number of macroeconomic indicators showed some improvement over the past year, despite ongoing challenges on several sectors resulting from the pandemic. He pointed out that the commercial sector is a major partner in advancing the economy and is responsible for translating policies and programs into facts and data on the ground by increasing and expanding investments, revitalizing the business environment and providing job opportunities. He added that the commercial sector, with half a million workforce is also a key partner in economic development, upgrading services and providing goods from various sources to offer alternatives to citizens' purchasing options. Kabariti added that Jordan needs a national economic program, jointly formulated by the public and private sectors to address obstacles facing the business environment, and to enable it to promote foreign and local investments. He also said that the national economy needs more liquidity, through enhancing citizens' purchasing power, reconsidering the sales tax rates, and should provide incentives to sectors that continue to suffer as a result of the pandemic, like tourism. Earlier, Kabariti called on setting a comprehensive Arab-Russian economic strategy, based on Russia's long-standing scientific and industrial progress and broad Arab capabilities. Speaking at the Forum of Russian-Arab Business Council, held in Dubai, Kabariti stressed the need to market and attract Arab-Russian investments to reach an economic alliance that parallels major global blocs. According to a JCC press statement on Saturday, Kabariti said Arab-Russian relations are "historic and reflect a long-standing mix of economic, cultural and social ties." Kabariti urged the two sides to focus on cooperation, which involves joint scientific research, transfer of knowledge and investments based on modern technology and "not limited to real estate." Globally, he said the biggest competition in the future will be over food security, as Russia is one of the large producing countries of foodstuff and energy, adding that Arab countries and Russia own the largest oil reserves worldwide. Referring to COVID-19 impact on creating new economic mechanisms, he called on Arab countries and Russia to take this change into account.  In this regard, he said the pandemic has imposed a new reality, which requires new patterns of cooperation and coordination. The Arab-Russian cooperation prospects are "remarkable and broad," he said, and investors and companies on both sides have a "huge" desire to build bridges of cooperation and coordination and benefit from shared expertise. On future action, Kabariti stressed the need to increase the level of Arab-Russian strategic relations, especially by investing in new, modern and advanced sectors, as well as food and agricultural security, infrastructure and clean energy fields. Read more National news   (window.globalAmlAds = window.globalAmlAds || []).push('admixer_async_509089081')   (window.globalAmlAds = window.globalAmlAds || []).push('admixer_async_552628228') Read More The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO): Donations made to the organization reached the people of Gaza without deducting any amount or incurring any type of costs or fees. PM Discusses Youth Empowerment with Konrad Adenauer Foundation President Jordan: 576 Million Text Messages Sent Since the Start of 2025