Jordan has opened its honorary consulate office in Nepal with Kunal Kayal appointed the honorary consul. Kayal is also the treasurer of the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) and also the chairman of Sanima GIC Insurance Company. He has been working as the director of the Keyal Group for the last one and a half decades.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Yusuf Abdulghani, non-resident ambassador of Jordan to Nepal based in New Delhi, stated that Nepal and Jordan have excellent political relations and share similar views on various international issues.

Since bilateral trade between Nepal and Jordan is limited but expectations are high, the Jordanian ambassador outlined the potential of the relations during the opening of the office in Kathmandu.

“We can do a lot to strengthen our relations. Jordan is doing excellent business in areas like pharmaceutical, food processing, gourmet, and textile sectors, among others. We import a lot of spices from India and now, we can import from Nepal,” said the ambassador who looks after Nepal from Delhi. “We can also exchange tourism and our Jordanian national flag carrier does undertake flights to Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai which can be expanded to Nepal too.”

He also stated that the business community between Nepal and Jordan has already set up the business council but much more needed to be done for strengthening the bilateral ties. He also offered to connect Nepali business community with Jordanian business community.

“We are proposing to set up three different mechanisms between us to excel our ties at government to government level and private sector level including setting up the bilateral consultative mechanism for consultation in different areas like political, economics, trade, commerce, business, investment, and tourism, among others,” he said.

Though the number of Nepali nationals living and working in Jordan is merely 3,000, Abdulghani sees an opportunity to increase that number. He also stated that Jordan is also interested in expanding cultural exchanges with Nepal too.

Nepal and Jordan established formal diplomatic relations on August 20, 1965. Since then, the two countries have maintained cordial relations, with limited but ongoing diplomatic engagement, said Kayal.

“Jordan presents a relatively diversified economy, including key sectors like pharmaceuticals, mining, ICT, and financial services. It benefits significantly from foreign direct investment—around $2 billion annually—and has strong economic and strategic ties with the US and the Gulf region,” Kayal said. “Jordan’s exports are robust, especially in industrial goods, and it serves as a regional logistics and services hub in the Middle East.”

From a business point of view, Jordan offers a more mature market with policy frameworks conducive to foreign investment and trade, said Kayal.

Chief guest of the event, Ramhari Khatiwada, the member of the parliament said that with the opening of the honorary consul office, a new chapter in Nepal, Jordan bilateral relation.