Marseille Week under way in Aqaba

AMMAN — The Marseille Week in Aqaba has been launched by Panmed Events, a Jordanian company that encourages French and European investments in Jordan, according to a Panmed statement

The week, which is held under the patronage of Nasser Shraideh, chief commissioner of Aqaba Special Economic Zone, will run through October 22, with the aim of improving trilateral economic, cultural, medical and trade cooperation between Jordan, France and the EU by promoting exchange of know-how, technology transfer, training and expertise, the statement said.

The Marseille Week in Aqaba began on Tuesday with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation between Kedge Business College in Marseille and the Aqaba Branch of the University of Jordan.

With the memo, Kedge offers a master’s degree in Business and Logistics with Kedge certificate.

The ceremony was followed by a friendly football match on Wednesday, attended by HRH Crown Prince Hussein, between l’Olympique de Marseille women football team and the Jordanian women’s national team, which inaugurated the newly completed football stadium in Aqaba, under the patronage of HRH Prince Ali. 

The game was organised in cooperation with the Jordan Football Federation.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the two teams was also signed for training the Jordanian women’s national team by Olympique de Marseille that will also host the Jordanian women’s football team during the FIFA games in 2018 in France.

The week will end with a one day conference on Saturday titled “Aqaba — Gateway to the Levant and Beyond” on freight and logistics with the participation of a European delegation, government officials from the region and regional companies specialised in shipping,  logistics and supply chain. 

The conference will highlight the significant role of Aqaba Port as a major trans-shipment hub for the region, in addition to focussing on the port’s growing importance, current logistics capabilities, growth potential of trade in the region as well as best practices and key challenges in the supply chain, the statement said.

The conference will commence with key note speeches and presentations by officials followed by panel discussions that will address various topics including handling and management of traffic growth in the region, the facilities and supply chain at Aqaba Port, the locational advantage of Aqaba as an ideal gateway to regional markets.

A representative of the Marseille port will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to provide the Aqaba Port with training, expertise, technical assistance and capacity building on Saturday, according to the statement.