The first economic conference on the Aqaba special economic zone, organized by UJ Aqaba and ASEZA, concluded in Aqaba on Thursday, 3 March, under the theme "ASEZ : reality and aspirations".

Two days of discussions ended with experts calling for the development of laws and procedures to contribute to increasing tourist attractions and investments in Aqaba to upgrade its status as an economic zone at the regional and global levels.

They also stressed the need for the revitalization of the real estate and service sectors, through the use of monetary policy instruments such as the reduction of interest rates.

Emphasizing the importance of education as a main theme in the sustainable development and economic development  process, they called for bringing in support for the educational institutions from the public and private sectors.

Participants stressed the importance of the transport sector and its influential role in the economic development as well as the need to develop the Maritime traffic and enhance the quality of shipping services by boosting the operations  of the Aqaba Ports Cooperation.

Moreover, they called for the development of an integrated and comprehensive strategy among all development sectors in the area, with an emphasis on proportional distribution of investments, which in total amounted to 16 billion dollars, of which the share of the industry did not exceed 20%.

On the social issue, participants stressed the need to work to achieve the concept of social justice derived from the Islamic principles, to complement sustainable development of the zone.

 
At the end of the conference, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Finance Dr. Firas Rawashdeh delivered a speech in which he thanked all the participants and supporters of the conference, pointing to the importance of holding such specialized conferences to deliberate on means and measures geared towards the achievement of comprehensive and sustainable development.