00:03Benvenuti a questa nuova intervista dell'agenzia di stampa Italpress. Oggi con noi abbiamo Tarek
00:09Abu Ghazalè che è Ministro degli investimenti Giordano. Benvenuto. Eccellenza, le chiedevo
00:15come valuta l'attuale livello di scambio e di cooperazione negli investimenti tra la Giordania
00:22e l'Unione Europea e soprattutto con l'Italia? Quale ruolo può svolgere l'Italia?
00:27First, allow me to thank you for hosting me and good morning to you and the audience.
00:36Basically, the EU cooperation is a very important relationship between Jordan and its allies.
00:49We are taking now the cooperation between EU to the next strategic level whereby we are
00:55strengthening the relation to have more effect, not only on the political side, yet on the
01:01economical side. And this is a very important step forward. And this is why the investment
01:07conference is taking place in order to practicalize this relation on the ground and to show that
01:16there is a will, a political will to support private sector from both ends to move forward. But if we
01:24are
01:24specifically talking about the relation of European or Italian investment, the relation with Italy
01:31officially started in 1948, one of the oldest relation with the European countries. Nevertheless,
01:41I'll give you an example. Italy from a people's point of view has been in relation with the Jordanian
01:50people. First, the first hospital in Amman, the capital is an Italian hospital. That's why Jordanians are proud of this
02:02relation and have all the respect and love to the Italian people.
02:08Looking at the economic side now, we've seen a good progress on Italian investment. Italy has been a source of
02:17import for machinery, for technology for many years.
02:22And in the recent years, we see the trade deficit is improving. Like three years ago, it was around 600
02:31million deficit. Now it's 400. We are seeing more trading between the two countries.
02:38countries. And this is why we want to go from the trading level into the investment level, into a corporation,
02:46into more ventures between the two countries.
02:50Recently, still, we believe there is opportunity on FDI because the FDI range, the total FDI for the economical part
03:04is around 700 million USD.
03:08Nevertheless, if we look at the FDI on a yearly base, it range in the 30 million. And we are
03:15eager to increase that FDI to more level that, higher level that can lead to better cooperation between the private
03:27sectors.
03:27This is basically the aim for our visit. We are visiting a lot of institutes in Milan. We've been previously
03:36in Rome. We still believe that Jordan can play a good role in improving business relation between Italy, Europe, and
03:47not only Jordan, yet Middle Eastern countries and Arab countries.
03:50One little bit is concerned. But what are the most important sectors of the companies?
03:58I don't know if it comes to mind the energy, transport, infrastructure and even the advanced industries.
04:07Looking at the competitive advantage of Jordan and where it stands, it's very important because Jordan is a small country
04:20with a small market.
04:21Yet Jordan is a very stable country and have access to different markets.
04:26And this is where we are positioning Jordan to be a safe gateway to the local market, to the regional
04:33market and international market.
04:35Jordan has eight free trade agreements, and it's a very important element in expanding the opportunities.
04:44In Jordan, we have the good talent, a lot of lucrative incentives and proximity to key developing countries like Iraq,
04:55Syria, reconstruction, et cetera.
04:57So this is where we are positioning Jordan as competitive advantage.
05:01And we've seen, due to the turbulence, what happened in Herbos, whatever, Jordan play a big role in the continuous
05:10flow of supply chain, supporting economies around us, due to its position, ability to attract FDI.
05:33The investment conference, which will take place on the 19th of November this year, is a very important venue.
05:42And we invite all Italian and European countries to participate in that.
05:49This conference has many aspects.
05:53One is showcasing the modernization of Jordan economy, whereby we are looking forward to double our GDP in the coming
06:0410 years.
06:05To do so, we have to expand each sector and attract opportunity and private sector to it.
06:13So the main sector we are looking at is our transportation, energy.
06:20We are looking at technology, because Jordan can be or is a good technology hub for the Middle East.
06:27Plus, we are looking at supporting industry that correlate with added value industries, advanced manufacturing, mining.
06:38Jordan has a good potential in a lot of minerals that can be raw material for advanced manufacturing.
06:46We will present more than 40 ready opportunities in all sectors to open the dialogue with investors and try to
07:01see how can we secure a relationship between local private sector players on both sides.
07:10Also, there will be a small part of the conference looking at how Jordan and the EU countries can support
07:19reconstructing Syria.
07:21As you know, Syria is moving from one phase to another political phase.
07:26Things are sending positive signals.
07:30And we are keen to support the construction.
07:34And we believe Italy, in specific, has good experience in infrastructure, road building, transport, modes, trains, cars, etc.
07:49So this will be another venue that will take place to move forward.
07:54Se la sente di lanciare un messaggio ai vari investitori, fondi di investimento italiani ed europei, su perché, perché sarebbe
08:06importante, perché sarebbe vantaggioso per loro investire nel suo paese?
08:10There is a perception that Jordan is stationed in a very turbulent area.
08:21And this is where the financial institute increased the risk of coming to operate in this.
08:28It's our duty now to showcase how successful industries evolved from Jordan.
08:35Jordan has a good financial system, has been accredited from different international bodies.
08:44We have good relation with the donor agencies as well.
08:49We have a solid banking system.
08:51So Jordan is a place where investment grows.
08:57Recently, we did a lot of procedural actions and policy changes for our financial market.
09:07We've seen a growth of 40% of the market size in the last 10 months.
09:14We have good institutes that are looking to jointly collaborate with funding agencies, banks, sovereign wealth fund, in order to
09:25support the mega multi-million projects.
09:32Also, the EU Commission allocated 3 billion euros to de-risk any kind of opportunities that Jordan is presenting and
09:46that will give more relaxing messages for this financial institute that Jordan is stable with a minimal risk to operate
09:58in.
09:58Benissimo, ringraziamo il ministro degli investimenti Giordano Tarek Abu Ghazalè e vi diamo appuntamento alla prossima intervista dell'agenzia di
10:09stampa Italpress.
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