His Majesty King Abdullah II’s interview with The Economic Times
"Our partnership can go beyond Jordan"
On the eve of his India visit, King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke about the Iraq conflict, Palestine and Indo-Jordan ties at Amman. Excerpts from the interview:
Economic Times: What's the future of Jordan-India ties?
King Abdullah: We have a long, historic relationship that was crowned by His Majesty the late King Hussein's state visit to your country in 1986. Over the past decades, we've come to share important cultural links, and India has emerged as one of Jordan's most important trading partners.
India imports some of our phosphate and potash, and your businessmen have invested in the garment industry here. But I don't think the future of the Jordanian-Indian relationship should be confined to those two areas. Our partnership can exceed the boundaries of Jordan to include the Middle East region as a whole.
Economic Times: Do you have anything specific in mind?
King Abdullah: Some of our ministers are coming on this visit along with some private-sector representatives, because we would like to learn more about some of your educational facilities and we're trying to reach out to some of your IT sectors. So, we do have in mind some specific areas for cooperation.
What usually happens on a visit like this is that both sides start to hear from each other, what we can do to change rules and regulations from both countries to make it much more feasible for Jordanian and Indian businessmen to interact and do business.
A good framework is already in place. There are already several bilateral agreements in place, and this week, Jordan and India will sign five new agreements and MoUs in tourism, agriculture, cultural exchange, bilateral investment promotion, and IT. A new JV in the fertiliser sector has also been proposed. The Jordan Investment Board and Exim Bank also have a new mechanism to help identify sectors ripe for investment in Jordan.
Economic Times: Can Indian businessmen set up production bases in Jordan to take advantage of its FTA with the US?
King Abdullah: There has been some interest, although in addition to the FTA we have a number of other instruments that broaden access to regional and international markets, including an association agreement with the EU, the Qualified Industrial Zones that also give access to US markets, and a host of agreements with other Middle-Eastern countries. The advantages that these instruments offer are not limited to the textiles and garment sector.
Economic Times: Where is the war on terror headed?
King Abdullah: When you talk about combating terror, you also have to talk about the root causes. You have to talk about social and economic stagnation and decades of unresolved conflict. Three generations have grown up with conflict in the Middle East, and I'm afraid that if we don't act soon another one will erupt.
In our region, conflict is the vehicle extremists' use. They use people's frustration and anger and the sense of injustice. This is why I keep referring to the Palestinian issue as the core issue. Any country that has a problem with radical elements must realise their recruiting ground is the Palestinian issue. So, we need to solve this because it will take a big bite out of extremism.
Economic Times: What are you doing to resolve the Palestinian problem?
King Abdullah: I'm looking forward to seeing President Bush in the next day or two. And, although I will be offering whatever Jordan can in assistance to the Iraqi people so that they can have stability and calm as quickly as possible, my major concern will be the Palestinian issue.
I think the Americans are going to be receptive to addressing this issue again. The window on a two-state solution is narrowing and I don't think we have more than six months unless we get some sort of mechanism moving forward. If we can't get that mechanism moving forward within six or seven months, then I don't think we can have a two-state solution.
Without a two-state solution, we will never solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and therefore, we may never resolve the Israeli-Arab problem. This will have an impact throughout the whole world, due to Muslim concentrations not just in our part of the world.
