A Comparative Analysis of Shenzhen and Kashgar in Development as Special Economic Zones

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of global experience in the creation and functioning of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), with a particular focus on the cases of Germany and Poland—two countries that have adopted different models for integrating SEZs into their economic development strategies. The paper explores the historical evolution of SEZs, their typology, legal frameworks, tax and customs incentives, and institutional mechanisms supporting businesses within these zones. The role of SEZs as tools for attracting investment, creating jobs, boosting exports, modernizing infrastructure, and supporting regional development is thoroughly examined. Special attention is given to a comparative analysis of the German freeport model, which is primarily oriented toward transport and logistics hubs, and the Polish model of comprehensive SEZs that feature tax incentives for investors, support for SMEs, innovation promotion, and regional employment growth. The study delves into the legal basis of SEZs in Poland, investor requirements, procedures for obtaining permits, mechanisms for interacting with government institutions, and the socio-economic impact of these zones in various voivodeships. The potential for integrating SEZ instruments into Ukraine’s national economic policy is analyzed in light of the country’s current post-war recovery context. A SWOT analysis is presented, identifying the strengths (such as Ukraine's favorable geographic location, natural and human resources, and international support) and weaknesses (including infrastructure destruction, security risks, and regulatory instability) of implementing SEZs in Ukraine. The article offers practical recommendations for developing a national SEZ model in Ukraine, based on the principles of sustainable development, innovation, and cooperation among government, business, and academic institutions. The findings can be used in the formation of post-war economic recovery strategies, legislative initiatives, regional planning, and integration into global economic processes. The research findings may be useful for scholars, policymakers, economists, and other professionals in developing post-war economic recovery strategies, shaping legislative initiatives, as well as in regional planning and integration into global economic processes.

SEZs are considered as an economic tool since its first introduction but still there exist a very little evidence to date to figure out the factors of its vital outcome and success. This paper is aimed to evaluate different aspects of SEZs by investigating the growth of SEZs in developing and under developed economies of the world. For the generation of economic / business activities and employment opportunities, the investment in Industrial Sector Development is critical and a strong innovative economy can help to address the need for economic growth for targeting poverty and acceleration of socio-economic development. In the past decades number of SEZs has grown from Asia to Europe where SEZs play key role in economic prosperity and internationally most of the countries utilize their SEZs to attract foreign investors which will open the doors of employment for the population. However, not all SEZs play remarkably well like China’s Shenzhen but China’s performance in this area is a bench mark for the entire world as it achieves immense growth through its ventures of SEZs. It is estimated that almost 66m jobs are created by the SEZs all around the World out which almost 30m located at China. In Pakistan CPECis the project,transformingthe Country and opening the doors of new business opportunities, making the country as an internationalinvestmentdestination. The objective of establishing Special economic zones under the China Pakistan economic corridor is to keep the wheel growth moving as it accelerates the pace of social prosperity through surge in trade, expanding export and self-sufficiency by import substitution. With 9 special economic zones (SEZs) under CPEC yet to get operational in Pakistan, it remains to be seen if the government's plan of setting up prioritized SEZs with both Greenfield and Brownfield investment will achieve desired results and not become "land grabbing real estate ventures". This study is an attempt to explore the potential of industrialization along with the policy implications necessary for sustainable growth of these SEZs. Success of these SEZs lie under its legislation, provision of utilities, level of federal autonomy and the flawless management system.Differences in theaffectivity of SEZs are owned bythe particularities of the territories andnaturalendowmentswherethese zones are developed host country labor cost, market size and infrastructure are crucial and the delivery of positive outcome also largely depends on its geographical positions (Alexey Kuznetsov and Olga Kuznetsova, 2019). Establishment of sector specific zones for targeting tourism and agriculture sector development will also support the objective of socio economic development but still need special focus to develop basic infrastructure to attain sustainable development. This study will come up with the best suggested sustainable framework that bring high jumps of growth by contributing in the national output

Remarkable achievements have been made since the special economic zones were established in China; in particular, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has been highly commended by the leaders of the Central Committee—Hu Jintao said: “Shenzhen has created the miracles in the world history of industrialization, modernization and urbanization”; Xi Jinping said: “Shenzhen’s development is a representative work of China’s reform, China’s miracle and also the world’s miracle”. However, as the special economic zones originally aimed at and focused on promoting economic development, in a considerably long time, domestic and foreign attention was mainly paid to the achievements of economic development and to the reform of the economic system in the special economic zones, while there was less attention to and research on the cultural situation and innovations in the special economic zones and their cultural contributions to China’s modernization. In fact, the rapid development in the special economic zones is largely attributable to the cultural spiritual impetus; the economy and culture have flourished side by side and supplemented each other in the special economic zones. The special economic zones have given birth to not only great economic achievements, but also tremendous cultural achievements which cannot be ignored, showing a function of impressive cultural innovation and of making some widely-recognized important contributions to the drive of China’s modernization.

This paper examines the economic efficiency of Russian special economic zones (SEZs) established by federal authorities since 2005. The results are mixed: the payback of SEZs is low, but they continue to attract residents; SEZs have greater attractiveness for foreign investment, but their sectoral structure is fundamentally no better than the country-wide structure; SEZs’ enterprises have higher labour productivity than the country, but mainly owing to their recent creation. The common bottlenecks of SEZ development are the instability of legislation on SEZs, the low level of federal authorities’ activity in SEZ development before the economic crisis, competition with other preferential regimes for investors and the long period of searching for the optimal system of SEZ management. Differences in the efficiency of particular SEZs are explained by the peculiarities of the territories where SEZs are established. SEZs are successful if they are created on sites that enjoy a favourable geographic position and in regions that have advanced levels of industrial development.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become in recent decades an important strategy for economic stimulation. The SEZs are associated with regional development policies and the fight against economic stagnation. The effectiveness of a SEZ depends on the regional economic context, its potential, incentive policies and investment attraction, as well as the supply of infrastructure for productive development. Thus, this study aims to establish a theoretical/hypothetical relational model that represents the influence of transport modes on the effectiveness of a regional development strategy of the SEZ type. To reach the proposed objective, an extensive Systematic Literature Review was carried out with the help of the scientific platforms Connected Papers and Ryyan, aligned with research in the main academic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO host, ieeeXplore, Emerald insight). A qualitative approach, inductive logic, and interpretivist epistemology were adopted. The results of the study suggest a theoretical/hypothetical model composed of eight hypotheses and nine constructs (factors that enable SEZ effectiveness, factors that compromise the SEZ effectiveness, SEZ effectiveness, modals of transport, SEZ performance, SEZ program, SEZ characteristics, contextual factors and regional development. The study improves the regional development literature and especially the Special Economic Zones theme by establishing solid theoretical relationships among the suggested constructs.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has emerged as a transformative initiative, reshaping Pakistan’s economic landscape through the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This study examines the socio-economic impact of infrastructural development within SEZs on rural communities, with a focus on key aspects such as road connectivity, electricity supply, sanitation, and access to public services. Using a quantitative approach, data were collected from 150 rural inhabitants through a structured questionnaire, and results were analyzed using chi-square tests. Findings indicate that road infrastructure under SEZs has significantly improved farmers' access to urban markets, with 44% of respondents reporting a major impact and 35% noting a moderate impact. Additionally, SEZs have contributed to the availability of quality public services and electricity, with 38% and 42% of respondents acknowledging significant improvements, respectively. Furthermore, 40% of respondents perceived SEZs as a major driver of rural development, while 48% reported a noticeable influence on local tourism. These insights underscore the role of SEZs in fostering regional economic integration and social upliftment, contributing to broader discussions on governance, development, and socio-economic transformation in South Asia.

Tanzania's strategic geographical positioning, with its lake and sea ports, airports, and border gateways, makes it a key player in international trade, enabling vital economic activities such as importation, exportation, and transshipment. It is easier to make SEZ as the major engine of Tanzanian Exports all over the world if we understand the performance and other challenges which made it difficult to happen. However, various researches and other writings did not target to explorer how SEZ could be the main engine of making Tanzania Export Oriented Country. The main Objective of this quantitative and qualitative study was to explore the ability of SEZ project over the normal industrialization and exportation out of SEZ by making assessment on its performance in five years from 2019 to 2023. Data were generated through structured questionnaires and research question guard lines sheet for interviewed respondents and analyzed by using SPSS software and Advance Microsoft Excel. The analysis revealed the following, the exportation under SEZ showed positive in trend, every year there was increase in quantities of products to be exported, although of this encouraged findings the researcher found the type of product mostly exported was raw materials about seventy percent only thirty percent was exportation of manufactured goods which is unhealthy to the economy. Also researcher discovered there is high rate of inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and the main reason of this inflow discovered there is natural geographical positioning which Tanzania endowed by God like natural resources, ocean and lake, all these the government added value by developing production, communication and transportation infrastructures to the project. Another finding was the introduction of other incentives where by even in other countries the Foreign Investors could get, these types of incentives did not show the uniqueness of competitive to opponent countries. Also there was low participation of domestic industries in the project of SEZ due to presence of unclear incentives to export in regional countries like SADC, EAC, and COMESA. The findings suggested that, there should be insisting the value addition and not to export raw materials, to review the other incentives to be competitive to opponents countries with the same interest to attract investors, to assist and develop domestic Small and Medium Enterprises to SEZ project to wards adaptation of technology and increase of employment and to conquer the regional markets and other globally markets.

In the Republic of Uzbekistan, the establishment and assessment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Small Industrial Zones (SIZs) present an urgent challenge that intertwines economic growth with ecological sustainability. Amidst these developmental initiatives, it is imperative to consider the impact of these zones on the region’s rich biodiversity and fragile ecosystems. The research systematically evaluates the performance indicators of SEZs and SIZs, drawing upon comparative analyses of legal frameworks across Central Asia and the Russian Federation. This study not only aims to enhance the economic contributions of these zones but also emphasizes the necessity of integrating environmental considerations into their design and operation. By studying successful methodologies from Kazakhstan and lessons from ecological practices in China, South Korea, and Singapore, the potential of SEZs and SIZs can be expanded to foster both economic and ecological resilience. However, the article highlights that significant infrastructural challenges and the absence of regulatory frameworks for measuring ecological impact impede the realization of these dual objectives.

IntroductionSince the South Korean government dramatically departed in October i988 from its conventional of prohibiting trade or economic cooperation with North Korea, a low level of economic cooperation began on a small scale and con - tingent basis by private firms. However, it accelerated more rapidly during the early 1990s, under the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation between South and North Korea, which was enforced on February 1992 after their joint entry into the United Nations.Unfortunately, during the mid-1990s, economic cooperation between these two parties has been hampered primarily because of structural di∂erences in their economic and political systems. Another reason for lack of progress is that North Korea's policies limited its role in economic cooperation to private companies and avoided government-level communication with South Korea, which is indispensable for easing tensions and finding the solution for identifiable problems.However, the sunshine policy introduced by the Kim Dae Jung government created a more propitious environment for mutual cooperation between the two parties and successfully induced a new breakthrough in South-North relations. Since the South-North Joint Declaration on June i5, 2000, during the historic inter-Korean summit and the follow-up agreement on a variety of inter-Korean economic issues, the level of economic cooperation reached a new turning point, thereby resulting in a drastic change in South-North Korean relations since then (Table i).Special Economic Zones: The Major Playground for Economic CooperationMore recently, North Korea added three Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to the established Rajin-Sonbong area to accelerate the economic cooperation between the two parties and to spur more foreign investment in North Korea. In particular, the newly promulgated law for Kae-sung Industrial District explicitly allowed investment from the South for the first time. The prospects of the Kae-sung Zone are particularly more promising than any other Zones for a number of reasons. First, both parties have been working diligently for the last couple of years to develop a clear and detailed road map for this special district. Second, more than i00 firms from South Korea have displayed their clear intention to make some kind of investment in this district. Third, the close proximity of this district to Seoul will ease various logistical problems and take advantage of a high quality infrastructure, something not always present in the rest of North Korea.The establishment of four special economic zones has been considered one of the most significant signs of the North Korean's willingness to experiment with a new open-door policy. The prime motivation for this experiment is to promote the inflow of foreign investment, technology, and management know-how. However, this experiment, long-term, is to obtain the indirect experience of a market-oriented economy in a controlled environment and to pass these experiences gradually on to the rest of the country, thus avoiding major political repercussions.Special Economic Zones is a term describing designated legal and geographic areas in which commercial activities, including manufacturing, exporting, processing, banking, and assembly, take place between local and foreign companies under the special conditions that provide a variety of incentives that are not available in other parts of the country. More importantly, an investment environment has to be developed that is considerably more liberal than elsewhere in the North. Additionally, foreign firms would be given high level of autonomy in managing operations, face minimal controls in capital and goods movement, and be allowed to export and import freely whenever it is needed. Two considerations seemed to motivate the North Korean decision to establish the SEZs. First, the opening of these SEZs is understood to be the first major step in the North Korean overall open-door and practices. …

The article deals with the problem of inefficiency in using special economic zones (SEZ) as a tool for attracting direct investment in economic sectors. To solve this problem, the article identified the main quantitative indicators that reflect the negative trend. The purpose of the research was to study and analyze the existing special economic zones (SEZ) and clusters of the investment and construction sector (ICS), as well as their subsequent comparison based on geographical localization. The authors have developed a methodology for selecting clusters of ICS and SEZ. As a result of the scientific research, was developed the author’s methodology for selection clusters and special economic zones functioning in ICS, also were established characteristics and indicators for assessing the interaction and the possibility of implementing an investment project and the synergistic effect from including a SEZ resident in the ICS cluster. As the key methods to determine the effect of interaction were used questioning and expert assessment. The authors propose to develop an algorithm for interaction between clusters of investment and construction sector (ICS) enterprises and residents of special economic zones for the joint investment and construction projects (ICP) implementation to solve the unused zonal infrastructure capacity problem and for assessing the synergistic effect of being included in ICS cluster a SEZ resident with important competitive advantages. Special attention is paid to land usage as the most important resource in the construction projects implementation. Conclusions are drawn about the need for changes in the SEZ and its structural elements management.

Socio-spatial transformation: The case of Eastern Industry Zone and Bole Lemi-1 special economic zones, central Ethiopia

The object of the study is the economic development of Africa within the framework of Sino-African cooperation. The subject of the study is the development of special economic zones created by Chinese-African cooperation. The purpose of the work is to study the possibility of creating special economic zones within the framework of Sino-African cooperation as a promising model for the economic development of Africa. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the process of creating the Sino-Egyptian Suez Zone of trade and economic cooperation, as well as some problems existing in the functioning of the zone. Special attention is paid to the successful experience of the functioning of China's special economic zones, as well as to the analysis of the possibility of applying Chinese experience to special economic zones in Africa. In this work, the author used such methods as analysis, synthesis of information from documents, comparison, induction and deduction. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the work compares China's special economic zones with those in Africa and analyzes the applicability of China's experience on the African continent, which gives possible promising models for the future economic development of Africa. The main conclusion of the study is a framework model for the rational development of economic zones in Africa, which includes the following elements: the choice of a location with the advantages of location for economic zones; the integration of special economic zones into a broader national policy in the field of economy, industry and urbanization, in order to prevent the transformation of special economic zones into "economic enclaves"; persistent experiments of political and administrative reforms and rapid dissemination of the successful experience gained in the economic zones throughout the country; support for the continuous development of infrastructure construction covering the economic zones and nearby cities as a catalyst for the sustainable development of the economic zones.

An increasing number of investors is interested in the Free Trade Zones (FTZ), which are the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that have developed globally within recent years. However, in 1980 China led the SEZ movement by creating four free trade zones inside its territory. The first four SEZs were all based in south-eastern coastal China and were established in the cities of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen. The expression “Special Economic Zone”, here after seen as SEZ, refers to a geographic region within a nation where there are fewer custom restrictions than in the rest of the country. SEZs are created to facilitate economic growth through the encouragement of direct foreign trade. FTZs and EPZs (Export Processing Zones) are more common and more easily-approved in China compared with other areas. During the 1990s, Special Economic Zones became significant especially in manufacturing sectors, encouraging investors to establish companies in these development zones thanks to incentives such as limited Corporate Income Tax (CIT fixed at 15%), triggering the economic growth of China to the WTO (2001).

Since China decided to establish special economic zones (SEZs) in the cities of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou in Guangdong province and in the city of Xiamen in Fujian province, the question of the nature of the SEZ economy has been a matter of constant concern. In academic circles it has brought about broad discussion with widely divided opinion. Some say the SEZ economy is capitalist in nature; some say it is socialist. There are also some who say it is New Democratic in nature. Still others consider it to be state capitalist in nature, or basically state capitalist. The question of how to recognize correctly the nature of the SEZ economy has important practical significance in regard to the implementation of this important policy decision by the Central Committee, and in regard to further emancipating our thought, strengthening our confidence, and pushing ahead with the construction of the SEZs. For this reason, it is necessary to engage in a theoretical discussion of this matter. This essay will addre...

The world of international business is confronting new opportunities and challenges with evolving systems of internationalisation. In each issue of FOCUS, we attempt to bring to our readers topical research areas in international business which can be of interest to both academicians and policymakers. The first article in this issue analyses the possibility of a multipolar world in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, with a place for South Asia as a distinct unit. While there is immense potential for South Asia to emerge as a powerful unit in view of its demographics, diversity, dynamism and IT knowledge, the region faces a number of persisiting problems like poverty, population, corruption, poor quality of education, and weak democratic governance. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has always been an area of interest for the international business community. In view of its importance, the article on FDI and economic development measures and analyses the determinants and patterns of inward FDI from a global perspective. The paper evolves a set of six composite indices and establishes certain basic principles of FDI theory in terms of efficiency-seeking FDI, resource-seeking FDI and market-seeking FDI. Another paper looks at the interesting question of whether institutional integration leads to economic integration, using the case study of India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreements. Studying the impact of bilateral trade openness and deepening, the author finds that institutional integration has brought about many positive changes in the socio-economic conditions of member countries. Two papers in this issue reflect on the performance and potential of areas related to India's exports. The first paper looks at the Indian handloom industry which is one of the oldest industries and well recognised worldwide. Known for its product varieties and unmatched craftsmanship, the industry is facing a number of challenges today. This paper reviews the export performance of the sector and the supporting institutional framework. It also examines marketing efficacy of the sector empirically and suggests export marketing strategies to the firms engaged in export of handloom goods. The second paper reviews the current state and performance of Special economic Zones (SEZs) in India. Over a period of time, SEZs have witnessed generation of employment, investments and exports. The paper highlights issues of SEZs and their expectations with regard to the formulation and modification of policies. High operational cost, fall in market demand, global slowdown, lack of skilled manpower are some reasons held accountable for slack growth of SEZs in India. A robust policy design and efficient implementation can lead to the effective functioning of the SEZs which is an important mechanism for promoting trade and investment, along with generation of employment.