Iraq has started construction on the country's third free trade zone on the Syrian border in its efforts to boost international trade, Al-Ittihad newspaper reported Tuesday.
The paper quoted the head of the free zones authority, Satam Aboud al-Janabi, as saying that "the construction of the new free trade zone on the Iraq-Syria border began with the establishment of warehouses and other appropriate installations."
According to Janabi, "the free zones authority will offer investors all facilities such as exemption from duties and taxes, like the two other zones."
Iraq opened the Fleifil zone, 420 kilometers (255 miles) north of Baghdad, and Khor Zubair on the Gulf in the southern province of Basra in 1999 in an effort to create jobs and revive the economy.
Last June, Iraq lifted curbs on foreign currency dealings inside the two free trade zones where company and income taxes have also been scrapped.
Iraq has been under economic sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait – BAGHDAD (AFP)
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