Iraq has decided to lift a boycott imposed nearly a year ago on 14 Jordanian firms suspected of maintaining trade links with Israel, a high-ranking Jordanian official stated Thursday, July 25.
Maher Nasser, the president of the chamber of industry in the northern Jordanian town of Irbid, told Al-Rai daily that the decision was taken during an official Jordanian trade mission to Iraq this week, according to AFP.
Jordanian Trade Minister Salah Bashir told Iraqi officials that "these 14 companies have no trade links with Israel and urged them to lift the boycott," Nasser said. "The Iraqi officials approved the request," he added. The 14 firms deal mainly in the fields of pharmaceutics and construction.
Bashir also asked his Iraqi counterparts to re-examine the case of fifty other Jordanian firms likewise boycotted by Baghdad for alleged links to Israel. Iraq, Jordan's main Arab trade partner, steadfastly refuses to deal with any Jordanian firm that has links with Israel.
Amman exported goods worth $230 million to Baghdad in 2001 and hopes to expand commercial links with its eastern neighbor thanks to a free trade agreement, which could be signed soon. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
