Bahrain and Jordan threw their weight behind Arab calls for international protection of the Palestinians, during a meeting in Manama Saturday, July 21, of their cooperation committee.
The meeting was chaired by Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa and his Jordanian counterpart Ali Abu Ragheb, who also met the emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa Al-Khalifa.
They urged the international community "to step up efforts to relaunch the Middle East peace process, ensure the protection of the Palestinian people in the face of Israeli repression and restore the national rights of this people".
Four accords were signed during the committee meeting: free trade, boosting economic cooperation, transportation and tourism. The formation of a business council from the private sectors of both countries was also decided.
The volume of two-way trade in 2000 reached $22 million, with Jordanian exports to Bahrain standing at $14.7 million, according to official estimates in Amman.
The Bahraini daily Al-Ayyam said earlier this month that Manama was also expected to suggest a revision of a 1995 trade agreement with Jordan in an effort to boost bilateral trade volumes. But the secretary general of Jordan's ministry of trade and industry, Samer Tawil, in statements to the Amman press Friday from Manama said that the two countries would either agree on that, or on setting up a joint free trade area. ― (AFP, Amman, Manama)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
