They said that the reopening of the crossing is not likely to result in an immediate rebound in trade exchanges, but expected the Kingdom's exports and trade exchange with Syria and Lebanon to rise significantly in the next few months.
Zuhair Jweihan, vice president of the Jordan Exporters and Producers Society for Fruits and Vegetables, told The Jordan Times: “This a very positive step that for long we have been waiting for…Syria is not only a major market for our fruits and vegetables, but also a strategic pathway to our exports to Turkey, Russia and east European countries.”
Before 2011, Jordan's fruits and vegetables exports exceeded 200,000 metric tonnes per year, according to Jweihan, who voiced hope that Syria's border crossing with Turkey "will also be opened as that is also important for us”.
"We used to export more than 60,000 metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables to Russia, eastern European countries and Turkey, before the border closure… We are optimistic, but it needs some time,” he noted, adding “as the borders are open, it will cost less for Syrian, and Lebanese and Turkish exporters to export their commodities including fruits and vegetables to our market via trucks, which will increase competition."
"We had many agreements signed with Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and other countries before the border closure and we hope the opening of the borders will be soon followed by the opening of the border crossing with Turkey which will help activate these agreements and reflect positively on our farmers," Jweihan continued.
The trade exchange between Syria and Jordan exceeded JD600 million (€730 mln) annually before 2011 and it was a route for business to many countries.
