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Embassy of Jordan - Washington, DC
Information Bureau
For Immediate Release
Jordan’s Minister of Industry
and Trade concludes US visit
Washington, DC - June 17th, 2006 -
Jordan’s Minister of Industry and Trade Sharif Al Zu’bi
concluded a two day working visit to Washington in which
he discussed US-Jordan trade and economic relations with
various administration officials, congressional leaders
and US business leaders.
Al Zu’bi stressed the need to capitalize on the success
of the US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement and enhance trade
relations between the two countries. He said that the
Jordan-US FTA has attracted many multinational firms
which in turn brought new expertise, technology, and
jobs to the domestic market benefiting more than
Fifty-five
thousand Jordanian and guest workers especially in the
garments industry. Al Zu’bi underlined the need to
diversify exports to the US adding that “we are already
seeing more activity in both jewelry and electronics
industries.”
In his discussions with US administration and
Congressional officials, Al Zu’bi also highlighted
Jordan’s response to the allegations put forward by the
National Labor Committee report last month, in which 28
garment factories in Jordan were found to have labor law
violations. “We are taking the NLC report very seriously
and we are taking immediate steps to improve labor
conditions and upgrade our monitoring mechanism,” Al
Zu’bi said. “We do not want to allow a few bad apples to
ruin a decent and clean industry that has improved the
lives of many Jordanians and guest workers,” he added.
Al Zu’bi stated further that Jordan’s Ministry of Labor
has launched an immediate investigation, forming nine
inspection teams which visited the apparel factories in
Jordan. An initial report was published by the MoL,
which suggested that three factories had already been
shut down before the publishing of the report and
another three did not exist in Jordan. The Ministry of
Labor might also shut down three more factories with
gross violations of labor rights. “We are working
closely with the International Labor Organization, US
labor committees, USTR, the State Department as well as
US and Jordanian apparel companies to address the labor
related challenges and to improve our monitoring
system,” Al Zu’bi said.
Al Zu’bi ‘s meetings included the Middle East Free Trade
Area coalition, Assistant US Trade Representative for
Labor and Assistant US Trade Representative for Europe
and the Middle East, Congressman Ben Cardin, Congressman
Charles Rangel, Congressman Sandy Lavin, the legislative
director for Senator Kent Conrad, the international
trade council for Senator Max Baucus, and officials at
the Department of State and Department of Commerce. He
was accompanied by Jordan’s Ambassador to the United
States Karim Kawar, Director of Jordan’s Economic and
Commerce Bureau in Washington Maher Matalka and Jordan’s
Trade Representative in Washington Yanal Beasha.
Al Zu’bi also appeared on Bloomberg TV’s Money and
Politics to discuss Jordan’s trade relations with the US
and the steps Jordan has taken to tackle the challenges
mentioned in the NLC report.
For More Information, Please contact Jordan
Information Bureau at 202-265-16606
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