Amman – As the government unveiled an investment opportunities portfolio worth nearly $15 billion, ahead of the first Jordanian-European Investment Conference scheduled for November 19, economists said the diversity and quality of the proposed projects reflect an effort to attract high-value investment in priority sectors of the national economy.
They said the portfolio could strengthen Jordan’s economic partnership with the European Union, support growth, increase productive capacity and create new employment opportunities.
Speaking to Al-Ghad, experts noted that the opportunities span vital sectors including energy, mining, transport and logistics, water, tourism, industry and clean technology. They said this broad sectoral distribution provides a strong base for addressing national economic needs and supporting the priorities of the Economic Modernisation Vision.
Experts stressed that the conference’s success in turning the proposed opportunities into actual projects could boost investment, production and exports while increasing the contribution of targeted sectors to the economy.
They also emphasized the importance of building on the momentum generated by the conference to ensure projects move from presentation to implementation and maximize their economic and development impact inside Jordan.
$15 Billion Investment Portfolio Across 15 Sectors and Subsectors
Jordan recently unveiled its investment opportunities portfolio, valued at nearly $15 billion and covering 15 sectors and subsectors, to be presented during the first Jordanian-European Investment Conference.
Through the conference, Jordan seeks to turn its partnership with the European Union into tangible investments and projects that support growth, create jobs and advance the priorities of the Economic Modernisation Vision.
The portfolio’s importance stems from the scale and nature of its projects, which focus on vital sectors of the national economy, led by energy, mining, transport and logistics, as well as water, tourism, industry and clean technology.
According to the announced figures, energy and mining account for the largest share of the portfolio, at approximately $7.1 billion across 10 projects. These include gas, hydropower, wind energy, green hydrogen, battery energy storage and solar power, in addition to rare earth elements, silica sand and basalt.
The transport sector accounts for approximately $3.56 billion across two projects: light rail transport and the national railway.
The logistics sector includes four projects worth around $1.61 billion, covering the Jaber border crossing, the Madouna logistics center, the Ma’an dry port and the Mafraq Development Area.
In tourism, Jordan is offering three projects worth approximately $1.08 billion, including the Amra Entertainment City, Abdali Conference Center and Aqaba Youth Camp.
The portfolio also includes opportunities worth around $442 million in the water sector, while industry and the circular economy include nine projects valued at approximately $265 million, covering manufacturing and electric vehicle assembly, phosphate chemicals, agriculture and clean technology.
Projects Aligned With Economic and Development Needs
Former Minister of State for Economic Affairs Yousef Mansour said the proposed investment projects appear to have been designed to align with the needs of the national economy and its development plans, particularly the Economic Modernisation Vision.
Mansour said the announced investment volume and sectoral distribution demonstrate an awareness of the conference’s importance and the opportunities it could create for the national economy, including the potential to diversify Jordan’s economic base.
He noted that successfully attracting the investment and financing needed for the proposed projects could have a significant impact on the national economy by stimulating activity and increasing productive capacity, thereby supporting economic growth and improving domestic economic indicators.
He added that the impact could ultimately extend to people’s living conditions through higher wages and contributions toward addressing poverty and unemployment.
Meanwhile, Jordan Economic and Social Council Deputy Chairperson Reem Badran said the proposed portfolio carries significance beyond its financial size. It includes strategic projects in energy, mining, transport and logistics, water, tourism, industry and clean technology — sectors that form key pillars of the national economy and development priorities.
Badran said the portfolio’s diversity reflects a clear understanding of global economic shifts and European investment interests, particularly in clean energy, sustainability, infrastructure and supply chains.
She expected implementation of these projects to increase foreign direct investment flows, stimulate economic growth, create new jobs, enhance the value added of national resources and reinforce Jordan’s position as a regional hub for energy, logistics and trade.
Badran noted, however, that despite the positive indicators associated with the scale and quality of the opportunities, the conference’s success will also depend on the participation of the European private sector and its prior familiarity with the projects on offer.
She explained that European investors typically need sufficient time to study opportunities and assess their economic feasibility before making investment decisions. This makes direct engagement with European companies and investment institutions ahead of the conference essential, along with providing them with the necessary information and studies to ensure meaningful participation capable of turning interest into actual investments.
Maximizing Local Value Added and Technology Transfer
Badran also stressed that the role of Jordan’s private sector is no less important than that of foreign investors in ensuring the conference’s success.
Many of the proposed projects require local partnerships that can contribute operational expertise, market knowledge and implementation capabilities, making broader involvement by Jordanian private-sector companies in preparations and bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference essential.
She added that early access to information about the proposed opportunities would allow Jordanian companies to prepare for strategic alliances and partnerships with European investors, helping maximize the local economic impact, increase value added and employment opportunities, and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer.
The Real Challenge Is How Much Investment Value Stays in Jordan
Ahmad Awad, director of the Phoenix Center for Economic and Social Studies, said the investment opportunities portfolio represents an important step in terms of both scale and sectoral diversity, particularly because it includes strategic sectors such as energy, mining, transport, logistics, water, industry and clean technology.
Awad said that if the projects are designed around a development model linking investment to employment, productivity and development in the governorates, they could provide a genuine opportunity to support growth and advance the national economy.
Conversely, he noted that if the portfolio is limited to large projects with weak links to the local economy, it could improve some macroeconomic indicators without having a sufficient impact on unemployment or living standards.
Awad stressed that more important than the portfolio’s approximately $15 billion value is the nature of the investments that actually become productive projects and how closely they are linked to the needs of the national economy.
He said the announced projects demonstrate sectoral diversity, but a significant concentration of their value remains in energy, mining, transport and logistics — sectors that largely involve large, capital-intensive projects.
He questioned the ability of these projects to create broad and sustainable employment opportunities, expand the productive base and connect small and medium-sized enterprises to new supply chains.
The key challenge, he said, is not reaching the $15 billion in announced opportunities, but determining how much of the investment value will remain within the Jordanian economy in the form of jobs, value added, technology, production and exports.
Awad stressed that the conference’s success should not primarily be measured by the number of agreements or the nominal value of projects, but by the volume of investment that actually moves into implementation, the share of local components, the number and quality of jobs created, and the projects’ ability to transfer technology, raise productivity and increase exports.
He also highlighted the importance of ensuring that investment in sectors such as mining and energy does not focus solely on resource extraction or energy generation, but contributes to building local value chains and downstream industries that maximize economic returns inside Jordan.
He said maximizing the projects’ economic impact requires linking new investments to the local economy so that Jordanian institutions and companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, can benefit from the supply chains created around major projects.
Renewable Energy and Transport Offer Promising Opportunities
Economic expert Mufleh Aql said the projects and sectors selected for presentation at the first Jordanian-European Investment Conference appear, for the most part, economically viable and promising, particularly the proposed renewable energy projects, a sector currently attracting strong global investor interest.
Aql said Jordan enjoys significant European interest because of the political, economic and social stability it represents in the region, as well as the standing and respect accumulated by Jordanian diplomacy in recent years and the appreciation enjoyed by King Abdullah II in Europe.
He said Jordan has attractive, value-added investment opportunities in renewable energy, making the projects designed for this sector particularly valuable and likely to attract investment.
Aql added that transport is one of the most challenging domestic sectors despite its vital and strategic importance. The availability of two strategic projects in the sector could therefore be economically beneficial while also improving domestic passenger transport and commercial links between the governorates and with external markets.
He said securing investment financing for the proposed projects would contribute to advancing the national economy and meeting its development aspirations, while supporting economic growth and achieving more substantial growth rates with a rapid impact, which typically begin at 5% and above.
From Investment Opportunities to Productive Projects
The views presented point to the Jordanian-European Investment Conference being more than an opportunity to showcase a large investment portfolio. It also represents a test of the Jordanian economy’s ability to turn investment opportunities into productive projects with a sustainable impact.
While the projects span several strategic sectors, energy, mining, transport and logistics account for the largest share of the portfolio’s total value, while opportunities also extend to water, tourism, industry and clean technology.
The main challenge following the conference will be moving from announcing opportunities to attracting investors and financing, and then reaching actual project implementation while ensuring strong links with the local economy through employment, increased value added, technology transfer, higher production and stronger exports.
In this context, the participation of both the Jordanian and European private sectors, together with providing investors with the necessary studies and information, will be essential to turning the investment portfolio into operating projects and enabling the national economy to benefit from the scale of the opportunities on offer.
Source: Al-Ghad
