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You are here » Home » Telling Our Story
Case Study
Public-private partnership assists businesses on entering U.S. market
Promoting Trade Between Jordan and the U.S.
Challenge
In 2000, Jordan became the fourth country to sign a free trade agreement with the U.S. The Jordan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (JUSFTA) calls for the gradual elimination of all duties and quotas on trade between the two countries by 2010. This agreement promises tremendous benefit for Jordanian businesses by granting them unprecedented access to the U.S. market and positioning Jordan to become the regional hub for trade and investment aimed at exporting to the U.S. To take advantage of the agreement, the business community needed to have access to information about U.S.-based services that would help them build linkages with U.S. importers and comply with the JUSFTA’s requirements.
Photo: Petra Hitachi
Petra Hitachi exhibits at the International Air Conditioning Heating Refrigeration Exhibition in Anaheim, California.
“In addition to helping us improve our ability to research and analyze data, [USAID] has trained us to anticipate the questions and the needs of the business community, and has given us the ability to be both proactive and self-reliant.”
- Anna Maria Salameh, specialist at the FTA Unit
Initiative
USAID’s economic development project responded to this need by creating the TIJARA Coalition, a partnership of business associations, government agencies, and private companies. The coalition was created to promote the JUSFTA and to provide businesses with the tools they need to boost their exports to the United States. USAID provided guidance and funding to create TIJARA, and generate support among the business community for the process.
USAID then provided world-class training to the coalition and individual members to build their capacity to collect, analyze, and disseminate information about the JUSFTA to the public through seminars, help desks, and websites. In particular, the program helped create and train the FTA Unit which is the component of TIJARA that coordinates trainings for members and responds to inquiries about the JUSFTA.
Results
Jordanian businesses have embraced the JUSFTA and are developing strong relationships with the U.S. market. In 2002, the first full year that the JUSFTA was in force, the total value of exports to the U.S. under the FTA Unit was $12.6 million, and more than doubled in 2003 to $27.2 million. TIJARA’s information resources are widely used by the public to access info on JUSFTA - for example, the JUSFTA website has received over half a million hits since it was launched in 2002, and the FTA Unit responds to thirty requests for information a month.
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