Jordan on Wednesday stressed its keenness to increase the United Arab Emirates (UAE) investments in the country that stand at about 15 billion U.S. dollars at present, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

At the opening of the Jordanian-UAE Economic Forum in Amman, Jordan's Minister of Industry and Trade Maha Ali said the potential remains huge for increasing the trade exchange between the two countries and attracting further investments into the Kingdom.

The minister added that the UAE currently has investments in the areas of agriculture, industry, tourism and energy in Jordan.

She added that about 22 percent of Jordan's investments abroad are located in the UAE at a total value of 1 billion U.S. dollars.

She called for boosting cooperation between the public and the private sectors in the two countries to increase the trade exchange, which stands annually at about 900 million U.S. dollars.

According to official figures, there are some 170,000 Jordanians working in the UAE.