The preparatory meeting for the 26th session of the Egyptian-Jordanian Higher Committee are kicking off on Monday to discuss enhancing bilateral relations between the two Arab countries. The session is scheduled for 29-31 August and will be chaired by Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and his Jordanian counterpart Hani Al-Mulki. The committee, which was formed in the mid-1980s to strengthen ties between the two countries, is considered the oldest and most regularly-functioning of its kind. The discussions will include talks on ways to boost trade between the two countries by lifting restrictions imposed on the flow of Egyptian goods to Jordan's markets, especially agricultural products such as potatoes and onions. They will also discuss ways to facilitate the access of Egyptian ships sailing the Gulf of Aqaba by removing customs and taxes and implement the treaty of Agader. A discussion will also take place on Jordanian investments in Egyptian national mega-projects such as the reclamation of 1.5 million feddans in El-Farafra. Trade between Egypt and Jordan is at $650 million compared to $661 million last year, while the size of Jordanian investments in Egypt has reached $514 million, according to Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Qabil. The meeting will include discussions on the proposal of Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr to establish branches of Egypt's national banks in Jordan to help the Egyptian workforce in that country deposit their money easily and to encourage investments. The number of Egyptian workers in Jordan reached 400,000 in 2015, constituting 67 percent foreign workers in Jordan, according to Haitham Khasawneh, spokesman of the Jordanian Ministry of Labour. The meeting will be attended by the ministers of health, immigration, international cooperation and the head of the Suez Canal Authority along with their Jordanian counterparts King Abdullah II of Jordan paid a visit to Egypt last Wednesday where he and President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi stressed the importance of intensifying cooperation between the two countries on the social, economic and political levels. They reiterated the necessity of reviving peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel to implement the two-state solution.
