On Wednesday 28 March, European Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn launched the EU's external investment plan (EIP) in Amman. This is expected to help the EU's neighbouring countries, including Jordan, attract investment. Foreign direct investment in Jordan fell from 2 billion Jordanian dinar in 2008, in other words before the war in Syria, to 1.1 billion in 2016.
"Around €44 billion should be mobilised as part of the EIP from 2017 to 2020 for Africa and the EU neighbourhood", Hahn stated at the launch of the plan, to which the European Commission is to contribute up to €4.1 billion.
As part of this EIP, a new fund with an innovative guarantee of €1.5 billion and regional investment platforms of €2.6 billion will offer more flexibility to support development of the private sector. "I expect that this (...) will enable us to build on the EU's €90 million energy and €100 million solid waste programmes in Jordan", Hahn stated.
Technical assistance will be offered in order to improve the quality of human capital and investment, and will support the ongoing efforts to reform the investment climate. The EU already supports efforts with a €60 million budget support programme for development of the private sector.
In addition, the EU will continue its work with the Jordanian government and the private sector to propose reforms aiming to make the country a more attractive investment destination, building on the EU's macrofinancial assistance programme and programme on making the rules of origin more flexible, Hahn stated.
Saying that in 2016 the EU had decided to relax the rules of origin requirements to enable Jordan to have access to the EU market, Hahn called on the representatives of the private sector to exploit this opportunity fully, as the programme has "not yet delivered as much as we would have hoped".
Hahn and Imad Fakhoury, Jordan's minister for international cooperation, furthermore signed a €10 million assistance programme to help SMEs benefit from this flexibility. Another €10 million agreement was signed with the aim of supporting Jordan's ministries and institutions in the implementation of partnership priorities between the EU and Jordan.
Hahn underlined the EU's support to the government in "its courageous reforms implemented to ensure macro-economic stability, stimulate economic growth and improve the investment and business climate". "More needs to be done on access to credit, on fiscal consolidation, and insolvency", he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)