About JEDCO

Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) is an autonomous, non profit corporation equally owned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Jordan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the Amman Chamber of Industry. It is governed by a board of directors chaired by the Minister of Industry and Trade with six members from the public sector, six members from the private sector and one member from each of the Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ) and the Agricultural Sector.

It was first established in 1972 as Jordan's national export development agency under law no. 21 for 1972 and named as Jordan Commercial Centers Corporation (JCCC), where it has opened several centers abroad to help exporters promote Jordanian products and penetrate new markets.

In 1992, the law of JCCC was amended and under its new name of JEDCO, further functions were mandated to implement government commitments in regard to regional trade protocols and agreements with several Arab countries. In addition, JEDCO has taken the rein to help Jordanian private and public sectors expand their export activities beyond the region and to integrate with world markets through its promotional and export development schemes.

JEDCO's Role in the Jordanian Economy

Jordan's economic policies are those of an open market economy. It is a free enterprise economy led by an active private sector. The Jordanian government has recently adopted new policies to achieve a higher economic growth and reform to offset the imbalance in its foreign trade.

Developing Jordanian exports, attracting foreign investments, liberalizing trade and rationalizing public and private expenditures are some of the adopted policies to achieve fiscal and monetary stability.

In this context, JEDCO has taken the vital role of developing Jordanian exports and assisting Jordanian manufacturers in exploring new markets for their products. JEDCO's diversified activities range from exploring potential markets for the Jordanian products to developing the technical capabilities of the Jordanian manufacturers as well as encouraging export oriented foreign investment and joint-ventures.

JEDCO now offers a wide range of services; directly to exporters and indirectly to the country's various private and public sector organizations. These include:

• Technical Export Development

• Trade Promotion

• Information Services

• Market Information and Research

• Human Resources Development

• Regional and International Cooperation
  

JEDCO's Internal Structure

A Director General is responsible for JEDCO's operations with a team of experienced, professional staff managing the various functional departments. The hierarchical structure of JEDCO is shown below:

JEDCO's Departments

Technical Export Development

With the ultimate goal of realizing a self sustaining export led economic growth, JEDCO has applied itself in earnest to the task of enhancing the competitive edge of the "Made in Jordan" products and help them to suffice the requirements of the targeted markets in terms of quality and price.

The adopted approach to fulfill this task comprises the following activities:

A.       Conducting Industrial Studies

The industrial studies are actually the planning function which directs the activities of the technical assistance and provide a rich source of information frequently needed by the industrial sector.

The main objectives of this activity are:

1. Evaluation of the Jordanian Industrial Sector with respect to their technical capabilities and identifying major barriers facing their exports.

2. Prioritization of an agenda of potential sectors and the setting of actions for improving their overall performance.

3. Preparation of feasibility studies for certain projects such as a Jordanian technical design center.

B.  Direct Technical Support

This support normally consists of a financial support which covers a large share of the cost borne by the companies to solve their production problems or install effective quality systems (ex. ISO 9000, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)).The financial support is usually coupled with technical direct support. The latter support is carried out by a local and international consultants jointly. On the other hand, technical support is frequently provided without any financial support. In this approach, the technical consultancy is either provided through JEDCO's technical staff at no cost or through senior volunteer schemes from organizations such as (NMCP) , (ECTI), (BESO), ... etc. and at a very low cost.

C.  Establishment of Specialized Technical Services Centers

This approach has evolved from the long term vision of JEDCO by which the necessity of providing sustainable local technical training programmes and consultancy for the vital industrial sectors, at the present stage, have been realized. The centers include a garment service center, a packaging center and other centers all of which will work under the umbrella of a Jordanian design center. These centers will offer training programmes, consultancy, testing of raw materials and finished products and dissemination of information. Thus, the centers which will be managed by local and well-trained experts will clamp down on the drain of foreign currency which results from acquiring foreign experts.

Trade Promotion

The direct approach followed by JEDCO in its quest to increase the Jordanian exports is trade promotion. Within this approach, JEDCO gears its main activities to exploit the appropriate means which can help the Jordanian products to penetrate new markets. These include:

A.     Organizing and Arranging Jordanian participation in  International  and regional trade fairs and Jordanian Weeks.

International and regional trade fairs constitute the easiest and direct way to reach consumers of new markets and provide a face-to-face approach by which the visual and vocal means of convincing can be utilized to the best advantage. Thus, JEDCO utilizes this approach by arranging for the Jordanian participation in more than twenty international and regional trade fairs and exhibitions during which various trade opportunities and queries arise. Most of these fairs are specialized in specific products or sectors.

In addition to the fairs, JEDCO organizes Jordanian Weeks which take place in foreign countries and comprise exhibitions for the Jordanian products in addition to seminars addressing subjects of interest to the foreign importers and investors including: the Jordanian investment climate, rules and regulations, Jordan's export industry and other subjects.

B. Trade Missions

JEDCO organizes inward as well as outward trade missions. Through these missions, a delegation consisting of representatives from export promotion oriented organizations and/or representatives from the exporting companies themselves pay a visit to a foreign country (Outward mission). The same scheme of missions is organized for a foreign delegation to visit Jordan (Inward mission).

These missions have proved to be beneficial and informative as it facilitates the exchange of information and the discussion of means of cooperation and ways of eliminating trade barriers. They are also very helpful in exploring the niche environment for organizing trade fairs in these markets.

C. Publication of promotional materials

JEDCO issues several publications and directories which cover various Jordanian sectors and updates them constantly, namely Jordan Export Directory and JEDCO's Newsletter. These publications and directories serve the purpose of spreading the awareness about the Jordanian investment climate, the prevailing laws and rules, names and addresses of manufacturers with full information on their products and their export markets .

D.  Overseas Trade Representation

In order to create a permanent channel through which information is constantly conveyed and disseminated to export markets, JEDCO has established trade centers in certain countries and has also assigned economic counselors in other countries. These centers and counselors undertake the responsibility of promoting the Jordanian exports and providing assistance to businessmen interested in doing business with Jordan and provide them with any information related to Jordan. They also provide the Jordanian exporters with information on current and trade opportunities within the market of the overseas countries and facilitate Jordan's participation in exhibitions and economic events. In addition, JEDCO is intimately coordinating with all the economic attachès of the Jordanian Embassies in this endeavor.

Trade Centers

Currently JEDCO operates trade centers in Iraq, Yemen, Palestine (Ramallah & Gaza), United States of America and Brussels. Following are the addresses of each trade center:

Jordan Counselors

JEDCO has economic counselors in Egypt, Israel and Taipei, their addresses are as follows:

Information Services

The information services comprise the following:

Euro Info Correspondence Center Jordan (EICC)

The Euro Info Center in Jordan is hosted by JEDCO. The center's main objective is to enhance business relations between Small and Medium Size SME's companies in Jordan and other 250 members of the network. In order to achieve this objective, EICC Jordan undertakes the following activities:

Forward to the EIC members information on Jordanian companies interested in doing business with Europe and other EIC member countries.

Provide European SME's and other members in the EIC network with information on laws and regulations regarding trade and investment in Jordan.

Provide economic indicators and statistical data on Jordan's foreign trade.

Collect and forward any business information or activity that might be of value to the network members.

Disseminate information to Jordanian SME's in the different industrial sectors on foreign companies interested in locating partners in Jordan.

Answer general, legal and administrative queries on the European community forwarded by Jordanian companies.

Locate business partners through a computerized network using special software for matching business opportunities such as the Business Cooperation Network (BC-NET) and the Business Cooperation Center (BRE) and the Value Added Network System (VANS).

Organize specialized seminars and workshops in order to increase the awareness for the Euro Info Center and its activities among local companies and businessmen.

Regional Information Networks

Apart from the EIC network, JEDCO utilizes other information networks to assist local and international companies in getting the most accurate and up-to-date information. JEDCO is a focal point for Inter Arab Trade Information Network (IATIN) and the Organization of Islamic Countries Information System Network (OICIS). Such networks are found to enhance business relations between Arab countries and Arab - Islamic countries.

Library

JEDCO's fast expanding library contains a wealth of information and data on foreign markets from published reports and trade directories to country and trade statistics. Library staff are trained to help businessmen find the information they need and will seek to obtain whatever is not readily available.

A wide range of international business and trade journals are also available as well as international databases and CD-ROM's.

The documentation found in the library is specialized and targeted towards providing the local industry with information on existing and potential export markets.

Market Research & Analysis

A crucial factor which influences the success in penetrating new markets is the availability of accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive information pertinent to these markets.

Based on this fact, JEDCO allocates specialized resources to collect, analyze and study new markets with promising export potentials and disseminates the information in the form of market researches and analysis.

The aforementioned service can take the following formats:-

1. Market surveys exploring the export opportunities and prospects for the Jordanian products including consumer segments, demographics, habits, the available competitive products and other relevant information within the targeted market.

2. Country profiles for the targeted markets including information necessary for the Jordanian exporters concerning the legislative trade regime, political and economical environment in addition to the standards and specifications prevailing.

3. Assessment studies identifying the export potentials of specific products in specific market places.

Human Resource Development

The human element plays a pivotal role in the success of any industrial or service activity; it is in fact one of the pillars that underpins the development of the Jordanian economy.

Convinced by this fact and guided by his Majesty's King Hussein's saying "Our most precious asset is HUMAN ", JEDCO pays extensive attention to the development of the Jordanian human resources' caliber.

JEDCO's programme for human resource development addresses both the development of JEDCO's human resources (Internal human resource development) and the human resources from the industrial sectors (External human resource development).

Internal Human Resource Development

The internal development of JEDCO's staff serves the purposes of upgrading the knowledge and the performance of its employees and providing them with skills and tools including new techniques and fields of knowledge. This development will enhance the quality of services being delivered and help in expanding these services to encompass new areas.

External Human Resource Development

The external human resource development has emerged from the urgent need to compensate for the acute deficiency in the availability of locally skilled and experienced human resources.

This development is achieved by means of organizing seminars, courses and workshops covering wide range of interest areas. The main areas which are currently addressed through JEDCO's programme are quality, production, marketing, trade, finance of exports and export credit guarantee schemes.

Quality management receives considerable efforts from JEDCO. The topics which are usually addressed are ISO 9000, ISO 14000, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Total Quality Management (TQM) and technical regulations.

Regional and International Cooperation

JEDCO meets its objectives by bolstering its ties with similar international organizations and seeks cooperation with international organizations interested in promoting Jordanian products in their countries. To achieve this objective the following tasks are carried out:

Implementing cooperation agreements with relevant parties such as China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Hellenic Export Promotion Organization (HEPO), Netherlands Management Consultancy Programme (NMCP), German Senior Expert Services (SES), Japanese Senior Voluntary Programme (SVP), French Senior Experts Services (ECTI), Egyptian Promotion Center (EEC~PC), the Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corp., the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), GTZ - Protrade, Associazione Piemontese Consrozi Esportazione (APCE) and UNCTAD, where JEDCO seeks their services to develop the capabilities of the Jordanian industries and inviting their expertise to address its specific needs.

Supporting Jordanian companies to benefit from the special promotional programmes offered by international organizations that promote imports from developing countries such as CBI of the Netherlands.

After the assignment of JEDCO as the National Counselor for Europartenariat events by the European Union, JEDCO became responsible for organizing the participation of Jordanian companies in these activities.

JEDCO hosted recently (July 13-14 1997) the Euro- Medpartenariat Jordan were 400 companies from Europe and the region have met with 150 selected Jordanian companies to discuss trade opportunities and joint venture projects.

For more information about JEDCO, please contact:

Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO)
P.O. Box: 7704
Amman 11118 - Jordan
Tel: (9626) 5603507
Fax: (9626) 5684568
E-Mail: atp@jedco.gov.jo
URL: http://www.jedco.gov.jo
General Manager: Mr. Wael Al-Akayla
Coordinator: Ms. Fatima Homsi , Mr. Assaad Abul Ragheb