Category: Special Economic Zones

Syria and Chinese Company Sign Memorandum on Investment

Syria said Thursday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese company to invest in free zones for 20 years. The General Authority for Land and Maritime Ports said on X that it had signed a "strategic agreement" with ...

Cambodia’s Strategic Bet: Banking on China’s Vision for a Second Shenzhen

Cambodia is making a strategic bet by aligning itself closely with China’s economic and geopolitical vision, particularly through the "second Shenzhen" dream in Preah Sihanouk province. The Fourth Think Tank High-Level Forum, held this week in Phnom Penh and Siem ...

China’s Investment in Cambodia Surges, Deepening Ties but Raising Dependence Questions

China now accounts for nearly 80% of Cambodia’s total investment capital as of the first two months of 2025, underscoring Beijing’s deepening economic footprint. Special Economic Zones SEZs have been crucial in attracting Chinese investors, reflecting a ...

In Crafting Special Economic Zones, Ethiopia and Vietnam Learned from China and Taiwan

By Keyi Tang The Taliban administration recently announced plans to convert former US military bases into special economic zones (SEZs) with the aim of promoting economic self-sufficiency through increased trade and investment.  The Taliban are not ...

Can Shenzhen’s Special Economic Zone Miracle Offer Insights to Africa’s Economic Recovery?

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every country and its citizens, though it has not impacted them equally, particularly those in the African continent. Makhtar Sop Diop, a Senegalese economist, and politician who has been serving as the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation since 2021 wrote ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.

These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still lack ...

South Africa’s Limpopo Province Approves $10 Billion Chinese-Finance Coal Project… But There’s Just One Very Small Problem

South Africa's Limpopo Province gave the go-ahead last week for a $10 billion industrial project that includes a 4,600-megawatt coal power plant, a coking facility, and a steel plant. The approval is critical for the development of the controversial Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone. ...

China’s Ambassador to Uganda Wants to Show a Different Side of Chinese Labor Relations in Africa

China's recently-arrived ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, travelled to the central city of Kapeeka on Sunday to visit factories in the Liaoshen Industrial Park in what appears to be an effort, in part, to convey an alternative narrative to the one that's become popular ...

A New Chinese-Built Road in Nigeria Highlights Why Infrastructure is So Important For Local People and, More Importantly, Politicians

Both truckers and workers are celebrating the opening of a new, modern road that leads to the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade zone in western Nigeria. The recently opened road has dramatically improved transport times for cargo and made it much easier for thousands of workers to get to ...

Rise of Special Economic Zones in Africa: Can Agricultural Processing Be the Next SEZ Success Story?

By Sophia Kladaki and Jing Cai, Research Analysts at Development Reimagined “There is no one model of development” is one of the key principles, we, the team at Development Reimagined, try to champion when looking at key issues of economic growth ...

Reports of Arson Attacks Against Chinese Businesses in Nigeria and Arrest of Archbishop Protesting Treatment of Africans in Guangzhou Highlights Growing Tensions

Videos are spreading rapidly on Nigerian social media, purportedly showing hundreds of young men burning down Chinese-owned businesses and factories in the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone outside of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria. Although these videos were shot last week and posted ...

China Creates $5 Billion Export Fund with Bank in Morocco

China's Exim Bank announced plans to team up with Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank to create a $5 billion fund to promote African exports to China and to establish new industrial zones on the continent, according to a report published by Reuters. The ...

China's Special Economic Zones in Africa: Lots of Hype, Little Hope

A decade ago China announced it would develop a series of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Africa to boost trade and industrialization. Given the phenomenal success of China's SEZs that helped to spark the PRC's three-decades of history-making economic growth, not ...