Jordan's King Abdullah II Bin El Hussein Thursday urged Indian investors to take advantage of opportunities opening up in his country.

'I am looking to long term relations between Indian and Jordan in the business sector,' Abdullah said at a dinner hosted jointly by leading Indian industry chambers.

The 44-year-old king arrived in the capital with Queen Rania on a three-day visit that is expected to give a fresh impetus to burgeoning economic relations between the two countries.

He urged the two countries to explore how bilateral relations between them can be improved further and 'how Jordan can become more hospitable to Indian investment'.

He said pharma, construction, downstream mining, ICT and hospitality are some of the areas Indian businesses could look into for investment.

Jordan has a number of free trade agreements with the US, European Union and 17 Arab countries.

The largest investment in Jordan by an Indian company is in a fertiliser joint venture by southern petrochemicals industries corporation, a fertiliser major.

The joint venture Indo-Jordan Chemicals currently exports 250,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid to India.

India is the second largest trade partner of Jordan.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has been rising steadily and was at $495 million in 2005 - but remains in Jordan's favour.

Several Indian companies are currently looking for investment opportunities in Jordan in garments, chemicals, hotels and jewellery.

On Friday, the two countries are expected to sign a bilateral investment protection and promotion treaty, as also avoidance of double taxation treaty along with cooperation in field of science and technology.

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