Taking place in Jordan from 13th to 16th March 2023, the study tour for 10 Iraqi delegates from the Ministry of Industry, Industrial Zone Commission, Enterprise Development Centers and business associations was planned with the aim of presenting best practices and success stories in relation to the Jordanian model of industrial zones and introduce them to selected Jordanian institutions and associations to support small and medium-sized enterprises, the private sector and beyond. 

On the first day of the study tour in Amman, the delegation met with Deputy General Manager of JIEC – Jordan Industrial Estates Company Oday Obaidat and Investment Director Kay Marwan Depolacky, who presented the 9 industrial zones of the country while exploring the business model and legal framework under which these zones operate in the country. Afterwards, the delegation moved to the oldest industrial area of the country, on the outskirts of Amman, the Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein Industrial Estate, where, following a meeting with the Director of the industrial area, visits were made to two successful companies in the area: Nabil Foods, specialized in the production of a wide range of frozen and refrigerated products, present on the retail market and supplier for many international restaurant chains; and Dip - Universal Drip Irrigation Pipe Manufacturing, a Jordanian company controlled and managed by Iraqis which has become an international excellence in the field of irrigation. 

On the second day, the delegation was supported to visit the largest industrial area in the country, almost at the border with Syria: the Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in Irbid. Here, after meeting the Director of the industrial area, the study tour continued with visits to two major companies: Durra, a large Syrian company that produces a vast range of foodstuffs and fresh foods and employs almost exclusively female and largely Syrian employees in production; and Mobedco, a manufacturer of pesticides and veterinary drugs with historic production sites across various industrial areas in several Arab countries. 

After visiting two of the main industrial areas of the country, on 15th and 16th March the study tour continued in Amman, focusing the attention on the main institutions, associations and supporting industry and innovative companies in the most strategic sectors of the country: among these, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, where the issue of policies in support of the Jordanian private sector and national import-export strategies was addressed; the Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI), a point of reference for the country’s manufacturing industry; the Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan - int@j, which develops interesting services trying to maximize the contribution of the ICT sector to the national economy; and finally Oasis500, the first accelerator of innovative companies of its kind in the MENA area, manager of pre-seed and seed funds which aims to catalyze the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and to invest and enhance scalable innovative ideas and startups within the technological sectors. 

This initiative was part of the project "Investment Promotion for Iraq - Phase II", funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by UNIDO ITPO Italy.