AMMAN: Establishing a Jordanian-Kenyan free zone in Aqaba would boost trade exchange with many African countries; however, the project has to be well studied to avoid unfavourable fallouts, Jordanian economists said.
During the recent meeting of the Jordanian-Kenyan Business Forum, the government announced that a study was under way to create a free zone in Aqaba, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.
State Minister for Investment Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh said that the zone aims to create Kenyan and joint investments to boost trade exchange with Kenya and other African countries.
Shehadeh said that the two countries were negotiating customs incentives agreements to increase the trade volume, which is still low at $14 million a year.
The agreement would help the Kingdom enter Kenya, which, in turn, would be a gateway to other African countries, the minister was quoted by Petra as saying.
During the forum, Shehadeh urged Jordanian businesspeople to establish a logistics company in Mombasa, Kenya’s main seaport, to facilitate procedures for marketing Jordanian products in the African nation, which opened its embassy in Amman last year.
In light of the closure of several markets such as Syria, Iraq and Libya, the Kingdom needs to open new markets to increase exports and support the industrial sector, Yousef Damra, an economist, said Wednesday.
Veteran economist and banker, Mifleh Aqel, said that establishing the zone should be preceded by other measures such as evaluating the trade volume on a longer term to ensure that the Jordanian economy would benefit from the new project.
