100 per cent growth rate at Mafraq Development Zone in 2017

AMMAN — The economic growth rate in the Mafraq Development Zone (MDZ) in 2017 stood at 100 per cent, Minister of State for Investment Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh said on Thursday.

Shehadeh, , who is also the chairman of the Jordan Investment Commission (JIC), noted that several contracts were signed with new investors in the King Hussein Development Zone to implement six projects, which will raise the total number of projects in MDZ to 44, mostly in the industrial sector.

During a visit by US Charge d'Affaires Henry Wooster and the US embassy economic team, Shehadeh attributed the growth to public and private investment policies and efforts to develop the investment environment in the Kingdom, according to a JIC statement.

Mafraq Development Company Director General Nayef Bakhit briefed the visitors on the expansion of the zone and its main characteristics, adding that the Kingdom's free trade agreements, include the one with the US, gives it a "unique opportunity" to become a pioneering location for industrial production and an exchange zone in the region.