Gulf Finance House (GFH) Bahrain has agreed to establish a $3 billion GFH Economic Development Zone on the outskirts of Algiers.

The zone will be the primary commercial development within the new master planned city of Bouinan and will cover a site extending to at least 2.8sq/km.

The Algerian zone is the second GFH Economic Development Zone, swiftly following the launch of the first, the GFH Mumbai Economic Development Zone in India, last year.

The GFH special projects team is currently working with international industry experts to finalise the business districts of the zone and the business clusters within each business district.

It is expected that the zone could include energy, financial, telecommunications, and IT business districts as well as residential development and leisure facilities.

The announcement followed recent talks between GFH chairman Esam Janahi and Algeria's Land Planning Environment and Tourism Minister Cherif Rahmani.

The concept of the zone was presented to the minister this week by GFH acting chief executive Peter Panayiotou at the 'Assises Nationales et Internationales du Tourisme' conference in Algiers.

'GFH is continuing to build on its leadership in the field of economic infrastructure,' said Janahi.

'The GFH Economic Development Zone - Algiers is another example of the credibility that the GFH team has with the highest level of government and confirms the value that governments see in our end-to-end economic development programme.

'The GFH team always works with the best industry experts we can find internationally and invests much time, money and effort in analysing national economies and engineering ways of increasing the strength of those economies. This is our core business. We aim to make a difference in Algeria,' he added.

'We are pleased with the unique approach taken by GFH and the vision they have shown,' said Rahmani.

'Economic growth is key to any nation and we believe that this initiative will act as a catalyst that will bring new ideas and industries to Algeria.

'This is very important. We are a relatively prosperous nation but we would like to see a greater proportion of our gross domestic product being generated by other industries and sectors as currently there is a certain amount of concentration in the oil and gas sector.

'GFH will help to create additional interest in Algeria particularly amongst global corporations,' he added.

'Algeria's economy is strong. It is a major player in the oil and gas industry and has a sufficiently large population to be able to successfully diversify its economy,' added Panayiotou.

'Clearly there are challenges ahead and we will work closely with the government to help enhance the appeal of the country for further foreign investment.

'As an Islamic bank, I believe that our investment in Algeria will send a strong message of support to the Algerian people.

'We see great potential here. The country is yearning to move forward and we can play a role in helping to create new jobs and opportunities.

'We promised the government that we would consult with them on our conclusions regarding the specific business districts that we would create,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service