A year ago, Jordanian officials confirmed that the border crossing between Jordan and Iraq (Karama-Trebil) would begin to operate normally and officially announced that the government would allow Jordanian-Iraqi trucks carrying goods to cross both countries, but that did not happen”.
The same scene is repeated this year, but worse, Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Tariq Hammouri confirmed a month ago that the crossing had opened.
"Seventy Jordanian and Iraqi trucks loaded with goods entered through the crossing," he said. However, contrary to the Minister's statements, the trucks did not cross since the reopening of the crossing in August 2017, according to Ammar Abu Rajai, customs director of Karbala-Trebil.
He said that the process of exporting goods by land to Iraq is through the exchange arena located on the borders of the two countries, through which Jordanian trucks meet with the Iraqi and unload the goods without entering the territory of the two countries.
This comes at a time when the industrial sector confirms that the Jordanian and Iraqi trucks loaded with goods did not enter until now the lands of the two countries directly and that the process of transporting goods takes place only through the exchange arena, which is an obstacle to increasing trade exchange between the two countries.”.
"Where is the government from announcing the activation of the decision to allow the entry of Jordanian Jordanian trucks into the territories of the two countries, is there a dead letter on paper?".
 The exchange arena is an area allocated to the borders of the two countries for the purpose of transporting goods through the convergence of Jordanian trucks with the Iraqi and the exchange of goods without the entry of trucks into the territory of the two countries.
Abu Rajai said that 6,000 Jordanian trucks entered the exchange yard and unloaded goods during the first two months, indicating that the number of trucks entering during this period is much lower than in previous periods.
He stressed the importance of activating the trade exchange movement with the brotherly Republic of Iraq, especially since 90% of the transactions were completed by the customs centres for export to the Iraqi market..
He pointed out that the number of Jordanian trucks that entered the exchange arena during the past year is about 38 thousand trucks.”
 "Until now, no Jordanian truck has entered the Iraqi market directly," said head of the committee to follow up on export issues to Iraq.
Al-Samadi pointed out that there is a state of anticipation prevailing in the industrial sector to implement this decision on the ground, and began to export goods to neighbouring Iraq directly.
Al-Samadi stressed that the activation of this step contributes significantly to the activation of trade exchange between the two countries, because it reduces the cost and time required for the arrival of goods compared to the mechanism currently in place through the exchange arena.
He called on the government to follow up with the Iraqi authorities in order to activate the agreement to allow the entry of trucks into the territory of the two countries by facilitating the granting of visas to drivers.
It is noteworthy that the export follow-up committee to Iraq was established in 2015 by the General Authority in Amman Chamber of Industry.
The Deputy Chairman of the Amman Chamber of Industry, Mousa Al-Saket, that the decision to allow the entry of Jordanian and Iraqi trucks to the territories of the two countries has not yet done, calling on the government to follow up with the Iraqi authorities to implement this decision. "
There can be no increase in exports and the strengthening of the state of production and employment of labour without facilitating the entry of Jordanian goods into foreign markets," he said, adding that the implementation of the decision to allow direct entry into Iraq leads to the activation of trade movement and the movement of many economic sectors.
 Al-Saket explained that the Iraqi market is one of the most promising and important markets for the national industry, as it exported to this market more than one billion dinars annually.
 "There should be a real activation of the agreements signed between Jordan and Iraq, especially with regard to the entry of trucks loaded with goods to the territory of both countries," said Abu Washah, chairman of the Jordan Exporters Association.
Abu Hashah stressed that the facilitation of transport procedures between the two countries is the basis for activating and increasing trade exchange between the two countries and returning them to the previous era. He pointed out that the Iraqi market has accounted for 25% of the total national exports.
According to the latest official data released by the Department of Statistics, the value of national exports to Iraq during the last year rose by 26.7% to reach 465.9 million dinars compared to 367.7 million dinars during the same period last year. Jordanian

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