China's Hebei ZhongXing Automobile Manufacture company and Jordan's Ayass Motors on Tuesday signed an agreement to set up the first privately-owned car assembly and manufacturing plant in Jordan.

Under the agreement, the plant will begin operating in 2008, with a starting capital of 30 million U.S. dollars.

At the signing ceremony held during the second Arab-China Business Conference, Ayass chief Mazin Ayass said that the initial production capacity of the plant is expected to be 4,000 to 6,250 vehicles, and then the annual production of vehicles and pickups will rise to 12,000 to 24,000.

The cars would be targeting Arab and East European markets and around 25 percent of car parts will be manufactured in Jordan, he added.

The Arab-China Business Conference, held June 18-19 under the theme of "Deepening Cooperation-Partnership in Prosperity", aims at bolstering trade between China and Arab countries.

About 1,000 entrepreneurs from China and 16 Arab countries participated in the conference.

Source: Xinhua