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Updated September 29th, 2021 at 15:32 IST

Jordan, Syria agree on enhancing bilateral cooperation, resuming flight operations

Days after Syria's Defence Minister visited Jordan, both countries have now said that they will enhance cooperation in various fields

Reported by: Riya Baibhawi
Jordan
Image: Prime Ministry of Jordan/Twitter | Image:self
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Days after Syria's Defence Minister visited Jordan, both countries have now said that they will enhance cooperation in various fields. The announcement came at the conclusion of a two-day long ministerial meeting between Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh and a Syrian delegation in Amman. Later, the Jordanian Prime Minister's office stated that the officials had agreed on cooperation on a variety of issues including water, electricity, trade inter alia.

During the summit, officials covered the conditions of the Jordanian-Syrian Transport Company and the means to find solutions to address its problems. Furthermore, they agreed to facilitate the movement of goods and passengers across their border. Both the sides agreed on ‘exchanging lists of priority commodities to enhance commercial exchange and went over executive procedures necessary to reopen the Jordanian-Syrian Free Zone,” as reported by Xinhua.

Apart from enhancing cross border trade, Damascus and Amman agreed on increasing cooperation to benefit from the Yarmouk basin water. Touting increased cooperation in fields of electricity and energy, leaders vowed to find means to restart Jordanian-Syrian electric connection lines. Notably, both the pirates also agreed on reviving the Syrian power grid obliterated by years of civil war. 

Flights to resume next month

The two countries also agreed on resuming Royal Jordanian (RJ) flights to Syria as of October 3. Additionally, flights to Jordan would also resume albeit with COVID precautions. As per a report published in Jordan's state-run Petra news agency, the country’s Transport Minister Wajih Azaizeh said that “travellers coming from Syria should bring a negative PCR test from accredited Syrian laboratories 72 hours before the flight.” 

Earlier on September 21, Syria’s defence minister Ali Ayyoub visited Jordan to discuss stability on their mutual border, according to the country's officials. Speaking to his Jordanian counterpart, Lieutenant-General Yousef Hunaiti touched upon a diverse range of topics, including countering terrorism and drug trafficking along the 362-kilometre long border. The visit holds special significance as it marked the first time that the Syrian lawmakers visited Jordan since the beginning of a civil war between the country’s president Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. Notably, Jordan supported rebels during the conflict. In a statement, the Jordanian army asserted that apart from cross border smuggling, the recent attack on Derra was also brought to the discussion table.

(Image: Prime Ministry of Jordan/Twitter)

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Published September 29th, 2021 at 15:32 IST

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