As well as banking and financial operations, the zone expects to attract funds through commissions and fees paid by other international companies seeking to use the zone's stores and other facilities. According to Mohamed Al Husani, general manager of the Free Trade Zone Authority, the annual return on investment could be around 24 per cent, and it ought to start making profits during the fourth year of operations. But it takes a free zone with the muscle of Abu Dhabi's oil wealth behind it to make such a dramatic shift in emphasis over the now traditional Jebel Ali model to work. Few of the region's newer zones are likely to follow its example. In the UAE alone, Jebel Ali-style zones are being built from scratch or converted from existing estates in Ajman, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Khorfakkan.
Free zones are already in operation in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Oman, which already has a new multi-billion dollar port project, including a free trade area, has just announced that it is to construct a second free trade zone in the south of the country at Salalah. Other Gulf states have noted the success of the Jebel Ali Free Zone too. Bahrain, according to the president of Customs and Ports, is studying the possibility of gathering all industrial areas in the country into a new industrial zone being built at Hidd. The project, which includes a port and harbour, was due for completion next year and would incorporate a major free trade zone, although recent falls in the price of oil seem to have put the proposal on hold. Iraq may create a duty-free zone in the southern province of Basra, in attempts to make it a centre for foreign trade.