Kuwait is Top Investor in Jordan with $18 Billion

General view of an empty roundabout during a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic curfew in the center of Jordan's capital Amman. (AFP)
General view of an empty roundabout during a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic curfew in the center of Jordan's capital Amman. (AFP)
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Kuwait is Top Investor in Jordan with $18 Billion

General view of an empty roundabout during a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic curfew in the center of Jordan's capital Amman. (AFP)
General view of an empty roundabout during a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic curfew in the center of Jordan's capital Amman. (AFP)

Kuwait's ambassador to Jordan Aziz Al-Daihani revealed on Saturday that Kuwait is the first investor in Jordan with investments worth 5.5 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($18 billion).

During a meeting organized by the Jordanian Businessmen Association under the title (the development of Jordanian-Kuwaiti economic relations), Al-Daihani said he hoped economic cooperation between between the two brotherly countries would expand to reach a political cooperation level.

Al-Daihani said Jordan and Kuwait have signed up to 73 joint agreements, most of which are economic, noting that meetings between the joint committee and the technical committee of both countries are being organized.

He also hailed the investment climate in Jordan and the interest of the political leadership in supporting the investor who are looking for an encouraging climate and a stable investment environment, calling on Jordanian businessmen to take advantage of investment opportunities in Kuwait.

Al-Daihani reviewed the Kuwaiti humanitarian role in supporting Jordanian efforts to absorb the repercussions of refugee crises in the region, appreciating the role of the Jordanian Businessmen Association in strengthening economic cooperation relations between the two countries and discussing issues of concern to the Kuwaiti and Jordanian private sectors.



Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.