Japan-Backed West Bank Agro Park Marks 10th Anniversary

Jericho, West Bank, April 23 (Jiji Press)--A ceremony was held in the West Bank city of Jericho on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the announcement of a Japanese-backed plan to build an Israeli-Palestinian joint agricultural industrial park. The Jericho Agro Industrial Park will help the Palestinians build their own independent state here, Japanese State Foreign Minister Nobuo Kishi said at the ceremony. A Palestinian state can be built if peace and prosperity are pursued, he said. The JAIP is intended to help build confidence between Israel and the Palestinians while helping the Palestinians become financially independent. The project's goal is to export agricultural products processed by Palestinian companies via Jordan. So far, 39 companies have signed to build factories at the JAIP and six of them are operating. Kishi visited two of the six. The JAIP is a key project under the Japanese government's Corridor for Peace and Prosperity initiative for the Middle East. END