Saudi's 'women-only' industry zone

Saudi Arabia is planning to build its first “women-only” industrial zone that will provide at least 5,000 jobs for national women in the first stages within a drive to tackle festering female unemployment, newspapers said on Tuesday.

The 500,000 square metre zone will be set up in the eastern town of Hufouf and will focus on light industries including foodstuffs, clothes, and medicine.

“We have started the first phase of construction and we expect the zone to attract around SR500 million,” said Saleh al Rasheed, director general of the industrial zones authority in the largest Arab economy and world’s top oil exporter.

He said investors would be invited to the zone next year and that thousands of jobs could also be created for men in the zone’s supporting sectors.

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