CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 04/2018

LE MONDE THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM
OF JORDAN
Left: Exciting view of Amman during sunset.
Right: Tourists enjoy the ride on a horse to ancient Petra.
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rian politics doesn’t pay a lot of attention to Middle
Eastern affairs, the current Jordanian ruler Abdullah
II is still maintaining good relations with Austria.
Once, I even had the chance to personally experience
the hospitality of the late King Hussein. It was
in January 1991, on the eve of the Second Gulf War.
The Austrian President at that time, Kurt Waldheim,
who was well respected in the Middle East, tried to
prevent this war by last minute negotiations in the
region. When he stayed in Cairo, he talked to King
Hussein on the phone. And the monarch invited him
to Amman and offered Waldheim to pick him up. So
he sent over his airplane, a well equipped Boeing
747, to bring Waldheim and a few Austrian journalists
to Jordan. Unfortunately, a few hours later it was
clear, that the two personalities have tried in vain to
convince the Iraqi government. In the following
hours, missiles flew over the skies of Amman and
Jordan was once again directly affected by a war.
Today, Jordan is one of two Arabic countries to
have a peace agreement with Israel. And the relationship
between the two countries is arguably one of the
most important for stability in the region – but it had
become strained over the last years. The main reason
is water. Jordan is one of the driest countries in the
world and it is in desperate need of water. But the
dwindling level of the rivers, mainly the river Jordan,
is a big problem. There is a basic agreement about a
huge water project, called “Red Sea Dead Sea”. Under
that deal, a desalination plant should be built in Aqa-
ba. And the by-product brine should be pumped in a
pipeline to the Dead Sea. A really ambitious project,
which due to political reasons is stuck.
Jordan in general is not blessed by natural ressources.
It has no oil, no gas and has to import about
97 percent of its energy. The main industry products
are potash, phosphates and fertilizers. And due to
the war in Syria, the sales markets in the region have
broken away. Despite this difficult economic environment,
Jordan’s economy is moderately growing.
In 2017, the economic growth was two percent, for
2019 2.8 percent are forecast.
The economic relations to Austria do not correlate
with the good political relations. In the last two,
three years the imports from and also the exports to
Jordan declined. This is partly due to the security situation,
but also due to some economic decisions in
Amman.
One very positive example of Austrian economic
engagement is worth to be mentioned: In 2006,
Backaldrin, a company of the food industry in Upper
Austria, started a production facility in Amman. Bakery
products (Kornspitz is a famous one) from there
are now sold all over the Middle East. Harald Deller,
CEO of Backaldrin and also honorary consul in upper
Austria, stresses, that Jordan is still a very important
location for doing business in the region. And he recommends
interested business people to visit the
country, meet the people there and gain their trust.
That’s what we also warmly recommend.
PHOTOS: VISITJORDAN.COM, DARKOTODOROVIC, ERIC KRÜGL
A spice shop, a children’s
museum and a view on the
Roman columns of Jerash
(from 2nd top to bottom).
www.wiesenthal.at
50 Cercle Diplomatique 4/2018
Backaldrin production site in
Jordan, CEO Harald Deller.
Mr Clemens Neukomm
Troststraße 109–111, 1104 Wien
T: +43 1 60 176-9046
clemens.neukomm@wiesenthal.at
Mr Ingobert Könczöl
Troststraße 109–111, 1104 Wien
T: +43 1 60 176-254-9041
ingobert.koenczoel@wiesenthal.at
Mr Adrian Cyrus
Donaustadtstraße 51, 1220 Wien
T: +43 1 202 53 31-7343
adrian.cyrus@wiesenthal.at