Hong Kong and Jordan have signed an air services agreement enhancing their aviation ties.

Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Stephen Ip and Jordan's Director-General of Civil Aviation Hanna Najjiar attended the ceremony in Amman today.

With its strategic location, the Middle East is an important emerging market in Hong Kong's overall aviation network. Thirteen carriers operate 110 weekly passenger and cargo services between Hong Kong and eight destinations in the Arab region.

"Jordan is located in the heart of the Middle East and I believe the air services market between the two places has good potential," Mr Ip said, adding bilateral trade between Hong Kong and Jordan has been growing rapidly, registering a 50% average annual growth rate for the past five years.

"This encouraging trend provides good opportunities for airlines of the two sides to develop air services between Hong Kong and Jordan."

New opportunities

Mr Ip said the new agreement provides a legal framework for the establishment of air links between Hong Kong and Jordan. Traffic rights exchanged between the two governments provide opportunities for airlines to launch services between the two places anytime.

"To further develop Hong Kong as a preferred transportation and logistics hub, we will continue to liberalise our air services regime and negotiate more new air services agreements with our aviation partners. The more agreements we have negotiated, the wider the platform on which we can extend our aviation network," he said.

"These agreements also provide valuable opportunities for Hong Kong and foreign airlines to further develop the market."

The new agreement is the seventh Hong Kong has concluded with a Middle East partner and the 54th internationally.

Hong Kong has signed agreements with Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and Vietnam.