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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of State for Investment, Mohannad Shehadeh, called on the Jordanian business community to establish a logistics company in Mombasa, Kenya's main port, to facilitate marketing operations and promotion of national products in the African countries.

Speaking during his inauguration of the Jordanian-Kenyan Business Forum on Monday, the minister unveiled a government study to establish a free zone in Aqaba, dubbed the Jordanian-Kenyan Free Zone, in a bid to launch joint investment projects.

The minister expressed hope the gathering will increase joint cooperation, raise the volume of trade and investment between the two countries, exchange expertise, and unleash the private sectors' investments to serve interests of both sides.

The minister pointed out the government has lifted Kenya from the list of nationalities restricted to obtain visas to the Kingdom as a first step to open up to the African market, and to boost joint economic cooperation.

On the gov't's efforts to achieve this bid, he said the two countries are currently discussing signing a customs preference agreement (CPA) that will increase their volume of trade exchange, which is still modest and does not exceed 14 million dollars during the years 2016-2013.

The agreement, he explained, aims to help Jordanian exporters enter the Kenyan market as a gateway to African markets and to facilitate their Kenyan counterparts's access to the Middle East region through Jordan.

As for Jordan's lucrative business environment, he called on the Kenyan business community to benefit from Jordan's free trade agreements between with several world countries, which give preferential privileges to goods produced in the Kingdom, and reach more than one and a half billion consumers around the world.