Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Dr. Tarik Al-Hammouri recently set conditions and criteria for issuing licenses to import goods from Syria within the list of permitted products. The conditions of import, which was seen by Al Ghad, include a request to import a license for the materials allowed at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, while the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Development will study the request and take the necessary measures.

This comes at a time when the Syrian side took similar measures before the recent Jordanian measures. Al-Hammouri assured Al-Ghad that the Syrian side did not respond to facilitate the entry of Jordanian products into its markets.

 According to the conditions, the results of the study shall be submitted to the Secretary General of the Ministry, who shall, in turn, submit the request to the Minister upon the recommendation of the Secretary General to take the decision.

 The import and export department of the Trade Directorate shall implement the decisions of the Minister relating to import licensing applications and shall inform the importer of the decision of approval or rejection.

The criteria also include that the importer must implement the special conditions for granting approval for the issuance of the license as specified in each item within the list of goods allowed to be imported, as well as submitting documents proving that the next establishment on import is registered and registered and the number of workers therein is not less than five workers. The new standards set the period of validity of the license three months from the date of issue.

 If the valid import license data are amended, the importer must submit a written request. The import and export department shall make any amendments to the license under this decision at the request of the importer.

No amendment may be made to the name of the importer. Any case not dealt with in accordance with the current standards shall be submitted to the Minister for the appropriate decision. (114)These instructions came in accordance with the provisions of Article (4) of the Import and Export Law No. (21) for the year 2001 and Article (15) of the System of Import and Export Licenses and Cards and its amendments No. 114 of 2004. The ministry decided to grant the importation of about 194 goods from Syria.

The decision came within the framework of applying reciprocity after the Syrian government banned the entry of Jordanian products into its markets. Hammouri denied the existence of external pressure behind the decision to ban imports from Syria.

 The decision came after the Syrian side did not respond to facilitate the entry of Jordanian products to its markets," he said, stressing the government's readiness to reconsider the decision and facilitate the entry of Syrian products to the local market if the Syrian side to facilitate the entry of national products to their markets.
Jordan lost 82% of its exports to Syria over the past six years, according to a digital reading of foreign trade data released by the Jordanian Department of Statistics.

 Statistics show that Jordan was exported to Syria in 2010 (before the violence) with a value of 169.3 million dinars. However, because of the closure of the land border in 2015, the export value dropped to 33 million dinars in 2018.

 The land border with Syria was re-opened before the movement of goods and passengers during the month of October last year.

 According to the latest official figures, the nation this year decreased by 12% to reach 23.3 million dinars compared to 26.5 million dinars compared to the same period last year.

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