US embassy cable - 02AMMAN7328

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 007328 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, EB/CBA, AND OES/ENV 
COMMERCE FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/PTHANOS 
COMMERCE ALSO FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/COBERG 
STATE PASS USTR FOR NED SAUMS 
STATE PASS EPA FOR LEE PASAREW 
STATE PASS USAID FOR TOM OLIVER 
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JOE GRANDMAISON 
CUSTOMS FOR CRAIG WALKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EINV, SENV, BEXP, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: CAPITALIZING ON THE JOINT COMMITTEE 
 
1.  (u)  Jordan's government and business community are 
hailing the first annual U.S.-Jordan Joint Economic Committee 
meeting held in Washington December 11, and the 
private-sector trade events that surrounded it, as 
unqualified successes.  Jordanian participants were impressed 
by and appreciative of the high-level USG interest the 
meetings received, notably participation by Commerce 
Secretary Evans, USTR Zoellick, AUSTR Novelli, A/S Wayne, and 
 
SIPDIS 
A/S Burns.  U.S. participants in some of the private sector 
meetings similarly were impressed by the energy and 
professionalism of members of the Jordanian private sector 
delegation.  Jordanian government and private sector leaders 
were especially grateful to Amy Schedlbauer, Carl Oberg, Ned 
Saums, and Roger Freeman for their key contributions to the 
success of the JC events. 
 
2.  (u)  The meetings have generated a number of follow-up 
opportunities, both officially and with private sector 
groups.  USTR is preparing an official schedule of 
commitments agreed to by each side at the December 11 
meeting.  In addition to these official commitments, the JC 
events surrounding the official meeting created numerous 
follow-up projects for the private sector.  They include: 
 
--  TIJARA counterpart:  We continue to encourage the 
formation of a TIJARA counterpart in the U.S. to include 
representatives of interested U.S. business associations, 
U.S. government agencies, and the Jordanian Embassy. 
Ideally, a U.S. association such as the National U.S.-Arab 
Chambers of Commerce (NUSACC) would work with a lead USG 
agency such as DoC to invite interested associations, with 
invitations based initially on attendees of the DoC-sponsored 
event December 12.  The focus of such a group would be 
primarily to raise awareness among the memberships of the 
associations about opportunities offered under the FTA, and 
to encourage continued cooperation between U.S. associations 
and their Jordanian counterparts.  Ultimately, meetings 
between the two groups could become a fixture of future JC 
meetings. 
 
--  AJEX support:  DoC DAS Molly Williamson agreed to lead a 
group of U.S. business associations to Amman to participate 
in the AJEX program (the American products show) March 26-28. 
 Invitees will include at minimum participants in the 
December 12 DoC-hosted event.  The purpose of the mission, in 
addition to supporting JABA's AJEX program, will be to create 
a core of U.S. businessmen in key associations who can advise 
members of their associations about business realities in 
Jordan (including standard of living, investment climate, and 
security issues) that are often at odds with - and much 
better than - perceptions from media reports.  Having a group 
of such businessmen who have experienced Jordan first-hand, 
it is thought, will help tear down one key barrier to new 
trade and investment under the FTA, i.e., misperceptions 
about Jordan's business and security environment. 
 
--  Trade finance:  Financing is one of the main obstacles 
cited by Jordanians and Americans to expanding bilateral 
trade and investment.  A seminar on trade and investment 
financing under the FTA would have a wide and enthusiastic 
audience in Amman.  It would raise awareness about the 
services offered by EXIM, OPIC and TDA, as well as by private 
banks.  As Econoff discussed with EXIM's Robert Bosco on the 
margins of the DoC event, the best time frame for such an 
event would be during the AJEX show, March 26-28.  JABA and 
local banks would be willing to help support such an event. 
We would welcome further discussions with Washington to 
pursue this idea. 
 
--  Pharmaceuticals Follow-up:  The Jordanian Pharmaceutical 
Association (JAPM), in cooperation with the U.S. generic 
pharmaceutical manufacturers' association (GPhA), the 
Embassy, and DoC, will encourage a group of small and 
medium-sized U.S. generic pharmaceuticals manufacturers to 
visit Jordan on a fact-finding tour in the coming months. 
Currently, we are looking at late May-early June, to coincide 
with a World Trade Week program sponsored by World Trade 
Center Amman and the Jordan Exporters' Association.  The goal 
of the fact-finding tour is to give the companies an overview 
of manufacturing facilities in Jordan and to encourage 
partnerships between U.S. and Jordanian manufacturers.  This 
activity will build on the ongoing cooperation between JAPM, 
PhRMA, and the GOJ. 
 
--  QIZ Follow-up:  Following on the success of the QIZ 
roundtable held at DoS on December 13, the Embassy has been 
in contact with representatives of USAITA, the U.S. trade 
association representing garment retailers, to explore 
possible follow-up activities.  These include forming a 
Jordanian delegation to hold a similar program in New York or 
Los Angeles in the spring; inviting USAITA to hold Board 
meetings or regional meetings in Amman; inviting USAITA to 
form a delegation of retailers to visit Jordan for a 
fact-finding tour; and offers from the Embassy and qualified 
Jordanians to speak to USAITA members via digital video 
conference.  We will continue this dialogue over the coming 
months. 
 
--  Environmental Forum Proposals:  When the Jordanian 
private sector delegation met the USG official delegation to 
the JC on December 11, Imad Badran of the Zarqa Chamber of 
Industry requested USG assistance in developing a plan to 
build a waste treatment facility in Zarqa to serve a variety 
of local industries (Zarqa is the home to most of Jordan's 
heavy industry, including the oil refinery and steel mill). 
State/OES expressed interest in following up the project 
under the umbrella of the Joint Environmental Forum, in 
keeping with Jordanian delegate Alia Boran's expressed desire 
to find specific programs for the forum to engage on in the 
short term. 
 
3.  (u)  Keeping up the momentum generated by the JC events 
will be a priority for the Embassy in the coming months. 
Successful pursuit of the activities outlined above will go a 
long way toward raising awareness of the FTA's potential 
among key U.S. and Jordanian business sectors. We look 
forward to working with interested Washington agencies to 
make these programs as successful as the JC events that 
spawned them. 
GNEHM