US Deputy Trade Secretary David Sampson on Saturday assured Jordanian Finance Minister Ziyad Fariz that Washington would continue its "financial and technical aid" to help Jordan carry out its planned economic reforms, Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa quoted an official statement as saying. "The United States considers Jordan as an important historical partner as well as a staging point for US investments in the region," the statement quoted Sampson as saying. The US official said he intended to meet with leaders of the Jordanian business community to discuss "issues pertaining to investments and the flow of trade between the two countries," which are bound with a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). According to the US embassy in Amman, US aid to Jordan stood at 510.9 million dollars in 2006, consisting of 297.5 million dollars in economic assistance and 213.4 million dollars in military donations. Fariz underscored the importance of continuing US aid to Jordan to enable it to retain the growth rate of 6.5 per cent achieved last year, taking into account the high oil prices which were adversely affecting the country's macroeconomic situation. He said that, thanks to the FTA accord, Jordan's exports to the US almost doubled last year to 1.3 billion dollars.
