AMMAN, 29 September 2021, (TON): Jordan will fully reopen its main border crossing with Syria from Wednesday, government and industry officials said, as a high-level Syrian team arrived in Amman to discuss how to ease the flow of goods hit by the pandemic and a decade of conflict.

Although the Jaber crossing has been open since 2018 after the Syrian government drove rebels from southern Syria, trade has yet to recover to the $1 billion pre-war level.

Officials told media “the pandemic led to measures to try to curb transmission of the coronavirus and those restrictions will be lifted from Wednesday.

They said “a visiting trade delegation from Syria, led by economy, trade, agriculture, water and electricity ministers, would also discuss lifting tariff barriers.”

“We hope the moves will restore previous trade dealings before the conflict and revive lucrative transit trade,” Jamal al Rifae, deputy head of Jordan’s chamber of commerce, told media.

Interior Minister Mazen Faraya said restrictions on Syrian transit cargo to Gulf markets and Iraq through Jordan will also be lifted, which Damascus has been pushing for.

Transit cargo from the Gulf will also be allowed from Jordan to Syria along with unrestricted passenger traffic, Faraya told Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka public broadcaster.