Economic City project between Jordan and Iraq.. Will it remain a dead letter ??

Aish: The Iraqi situation slowest steps to implement the oil tanker project from Basra to Aqaba, may change the Jordanian economic scene

Al-Anbat-Zeina AlBarbour 

Translated by Noor Almasri

citizens wondered whether this agreement will be like other previous agreements that were content to be ink on paper or will it witness actual application on reality? And will it achieve a real gain for the eagerly awaited labour, any new project ‏ that opens the door for them employment and work? 

Despite the recent multiplicity of news about the Economic City project between Jordan and Iraq and the conduct of the two parties, serious steps were taken to implement the large investment project. However, citizens wondered whether this agreement would be like other previous agreements, which were simply a dead letter or would see actual application on reality ? And will it achieve a real gain for the eagerly awaited labour, any new project ‏ that opens the door for them employment and work? 

In this context, economist Husam Aish spoke to "AlAnbat "about the importance of the bilateral project as it serves the two fraternal countries and paves the possibilities for greater investment cooperation and is one of the means that will create more jobs in front of the Jordanian and Iraqi workforce

He stated that the project is supposed to meet the needs of the Iraqi market for goods and products that it desperately needs, noting the role of this city in closing the shortage of different industrial products needed by the Iraqi market. He also stated that the economic city may provide an opportunity to establish more economic industrial zones between the two parties on the common border, pointing to the most important element by allowing Jordan to return to cooperation with the Iraqi market, especially since this market is one of the very important markets for Jordanian exports in addition to promoting the topic of electrical connectivity with Iraq is that the supply of power to Jordan to Iraq is very important.

Aish said that Jordan was betting on the Basra to Aqaba oil carrier project, indicating that it might change Jordan's economic landscape if completed. He stated that the Economic City project comes within the framework of the alliance between Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, which is supposed to provide greater opportunities for economic cooperation and integration between these countries, and most importantly, to allow Jordan to be able to influence the Iraqi arena, whether politically, economically and socially, and this is very important.

He stressed that there were many agreements that brought Jordan and Iraq together after 2003, but not all of them were completed for reasons of the nature of Iraq's existing political system, There are state groups that condemn the alliance with Iran and sometimes contradict any attempt by the Iraqi Government to introduce a new adjustment to Iraq's economic, industrial, commercial, investment, oil and gas market, pointing out that this often hinders the possibility of continuing or developing these relations more rapidly, noting the current Iraqi government's emergence from the coordination stream that increases loyalty to Iran 

Aish explained that although the pace has fallen from previously, achievement may be slower than projects are supposed to be and may be postponed, delayed or interrupted, such as the Iraqi transport project that has been talked about for 40 years.

He attributed the fact that the problem behind delaying the implementation of the project between the two countries was due to the sometimes political circumstances of the positions of the Iraqi parties and sometimes for reasons of political simulation in the Iraqi interior that limits these opportunities , as well as the suffering of Jordanian products from non-compliance with the agreement to exempt certain goods and products exported to Iraq from customs duties, pointing out that all of them are factors that limit the consequences of the agreements between the two countries.

He added that this time is certainly very expensive and puts a brake on any future thinking to raise the level of trade between the two countries, indicating that some officials sometimes expect this level to rise to $5 billion. But Aish said that instead of imagining and projecting for the future, what was agreed on must first be implemented on the ground because it ensures opportunities to reach these distant numbers.

In conclusion, Iraq's political situation under change of government has led to a decline in the implementation of the Economic City project at a slow level.

It is worth mentioning that the Northern Minister announced on 18/5/2022 during his meeting with Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals Manhal Aziz Al-Khbaz on the latest developments related to the joint economic city project to be established on the border between the two countries. According to the Joint Declaration of the Ministers, the Assembly took several decisions to begin practical steps to implement the joint economic city project between the two fraternal countries Jordan and Iraq