21 Dec 2016

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of leading a ten-member U.S. business delegation to Jordan representing a broad array of sectors, including infrastructure, consumer goods, financial services, and informational technology..

One specific avenue we explored for our firms to “do well and good” in Jordan was a new Jordan-European Union (EU) agreement under which firms operating in Jordan’s 18 Special Economic Zones and employing 15 percent Syrian refugee labor will enjoy preferential access to the EU market. To explore how our firms might leverage this deal, the delegation met with the CEO of the King Hussein Industrial Zone in Mafraq -- one of the zones encompassed by the EU deal and near the Za’atari refugee camp. The delegation toured the Zone and a factory of Petra Engineering that makes air conditioning units with imported U.S. steel; whose clients span NASA to Facebook; and is a potential beneficiary from the EU deal and partner for U.S. firms...