India and Jordan on Wednesday held the third round of Foreign office consultations and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The consultations were co-chaired by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (CPV & OIA) and Yousef Bataineh, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan through video conference.
A Ministry of External Affairs release said the two sides acknowledged the rapid expansion of trade volumes, which rose by 20 per cent during 2019-20 to reach USD 2 billion.
They agreed on the need to diversify the trade basket that is at the moment dominated by a limited range of commodities - fertilizers in case of Jordan's exports and electrical appliances, textiles, automotive parts, and meat products for Indian exports.
The release said Indian compes were invited to participate in Jordan's infrastructure development, especially in road, railways, power and construction sectors.
It was agreed to convene the 11th India-Jordan Trade and Economic Joint Committee and India-Jordan Joint Business Council meetings on an early date.
They noted with satisfaction the significant growth in cooperation in the fields of defence and security, including counter-terrorism, trade and investment, ICT, tourism, education and culture.
India lauded the role of the Aqaba Process in facilitating regular, comprehensive dialogue on counter-terrorism among global stakeholders. It welcomed Jordan's visa on arrival facility for Indian nationals and requested its further streamlining so that it would effectively boost tourism and people-to-people contacts.
The two sides noted that Jordan was emerging as a favoured shooting location for Indian filmmakers.
The Jordan side thanked India for facilitating commercial export of masks and medicines to Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
India will train Jordan medical experts in COVID management and emergency care, the release said.
Both sides have also worked closely in facilitating the repatriation of each other's nationals during the lock-down through India's Vande Bharat Mission flights, it added.
There was also a discussion on possible cooperation on the vaccine front.
The release said two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Secretary (CPV & OIA) extended an invitation to Yousef Bataineh to visit India next year for the fourth round of Foreign Office Consultations.
Both sides underscored that the historically warm and cordial relations received a strong fillip following the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Amman in February 2018 and the return visit soon after by King Abdullah II to India in March 2018.
( With inputs from ANI )
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