There are at least 60,000 Jordanians working in various sectors in Doha.
Qatar and Jordan’s bilateral trade witnessed a 32% increase in the first quarter of 2022, Amman’s news agency (Petra) reported on Wednesday, citing data from Doha’s Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
Trade between the two countries over the first three months of this year has reached $41 million, it was $31 million over the same period last year.
The goods that Qatar imports from Jordan include fruits and vegetables, frozen foods, livestock, medical supplies including medicine, marble, and phosphate amongst many others.
Jordan imports oil products, kerosene, liquefied gas, fertilizers, cement products, pipes, polyethylene, polymers in primary forms, and aluminum from Qatar.
The Hashemite Kingdom had received its first liquified natural gas (LNG) shipment from Qatar in 2015, when it inaugurated its new terminal at Jordan’s Aqaba port.
According to Petra, Jordanian products “enjoy a high degree of confidence and competitiveness” in comparison to products from the rest of the Arab world. It added that the Qatari market heavily relies on Jordanian food products as they have a high quality and a reasonable price.
Exports to Qatar were projected to increase by 10% to 15% following the GCC reconciliation last year after the 2017 crisis. The main factor in the increase was the ability of trade trucks to enter the country through Saudi Arabia’s border instead of shipping them by air.
At the time of the crisis, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt imposed an illegal land, air and sea blockade on Qatar over claims that it supported terrorism. Qatar has since denied those claims.
The embargo was lifted on 5 January, 2021, following the signing of the Al-Ula Declaration.
Qatar’s overall private sector exports to Jordan in 2021 amounted to $45.3 million, a 20.6% increase in comparison to 2020, where the total reported was $36 million.
The Jordanian news agency said that the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been playing a role in encouraging private Qatari investments in Amman to develop their bilateral economic ties.
“The Qatari private sector considers the Jordanian market one of the main markets and important destinations in the region for its products and exports of various commodities,” it said.
By the end of September 2021, Qatar’s investments in Jordan’s Stock Exchange reached $847 million. This made the Gulf state the seventh-largest stakeholder in Jordanian stocks in terms of ownership of securities by nationality.
There are more than 1,100 joint Qatari-Jordanian companies operating from the Qatar in the trade, contracting, construction, interior design, and maintenance sector.
Other companies include conference organisation, banking, accounting, real estate brokerage, services, and education.
There are at least 60,000 Jordanians working in various sectors in Doha.
In 2020, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited Jordan for the first time since 2014, where he offered to provide 10,000 jobs for Jordanians. He had also pledged a $30 million in assistance to the Amman’s military pension fund.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II was in Qatar in October last year, where he met with Sheikh Tamim.
During the two day visit, the two countries signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and special passports. Another MoU was signed between the Qatar Investment Authority and Jordan’s Government Investments Management Company (GIMC).
In March, Qatar and Jordan signed an air services agreement in Doha, enabling Jordanian companies to connect to more global destinations.
