Malaysian ambassador lauds trade, education ties with Jordan

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AMMAN — Malaysia and Jordan have enjoyed “warm and cordial relations” since the establishment of bilateral ties in 1965, according to Malaysia’s Ambassador to Jordan Mohamad Nasri Abdul Rahman.

During a media briefing at the embassy on Wednesday, the ambassador highlighted that Jordan is Malaysia’s important trade and economic partner in the region, according to an embassy statement.

“Malaysia-Jordan bilateral trade registered $53.6 million, with 152.9 per cent in growth in 2022 against the same corresponding period in 2021. Malaysia’s major exports to Jordan include palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, palm oil-based manufactured products, textiles, apparel and footwear, rubber products, processed food, chemicals and chemical products, electrical and electronic products,” said Mohamad Nasri.

As Jordan is working on modernising the economy and the public sector, there is vast potential for both countries to cooperate in various areas of mutual interest, including trade and investment, Islamic banking and finance, health, tourism, higher education, defence, and people-to-people ties, the envoy said

Malaysia also looks forward to further increasing its export of agro-commodity and commodity-based products, especially palm oil and palm-based products to Jordan, he said.

Malaysia hopes that Jordanian companies could leverage Malaysia's strategic location as a gateway into the ASEAN market, which is home to more than 600 million people, said the ambassador.

On the higher education front, as of the 2022 academic calendar, there were 1,387 Malaysian students studying in various universities in Jordan. “It is indeed a testament to the quality education provided by the government of Jordan,” he said.

On the other hand, there were 616 Jordanian students studying in Malaysia, in the same year.

Malaysia aspires to become an important global hub for higher education that supports the students’ journey for both academic and professional goals, he noted.

“With our experience of more than 30 years in international education, Malaysia’s unique and well-structured education system offers a high quality and highly engaging programme of studies and learning experience for the students. With the support of Education Malaysia Jordan, the students will get the most from our best education system and be assured of a comprehensive education experience,” he said.

Since 1986, a total of 426 officials from Jordan have participated in various short-term training courses under Malaysia's Technical Cooperation Programme, known as MTCP.

“We are glad to learn that the participants have benefitted from the programmes, which have helped them in both professional and personal growth. Therefore, we hope to see more Jordanian officials to join MTCP’s future courses,” he said.