MENA FREE ZONES & ECONOMIC ZONES
Making the case for attracting investments in GCC Free Zones Freezones or Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were established to accelerate development by creating an efficient business environment and encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI). The UAE track record in developing freezones has been excellent borne out by number of special economic zones in the country and the volume of local, regional and international investment. This model is effectively now also being replicated across several GCC and MENA nations with positive outcomes even in the face of stiff competition and new and emerging challenges in the current context.
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t is now well documented that Freezones attract businesses through cost advantages and preferential treatment, and they foster skills development and technology transfer, particularly from foreign firms. Successful SEZs, moreover, source goods and services from domestic companies, and they sell to them as well. They thus contribute to transforming the national economy as a whole. It moves on from being a labour-intensive economy to a skills- and technology-intensive one. Moreover, SEZs have also been successful test-beds for economic reforms as has been demonstrated in many parts of the world and the GCC. Meanwhile, according to multiple reports, the UAE and several other GCC and Middle Eastern countries have taken several initiatives to boost export and re-export trade The pandemic has brought an
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additional set of challenges to the economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The region has been struggling to attract more and better FDI, constrained by investment climate weaknesses and regional geopolitical tensions.
Short-term declines While the projected short-term declines are expected to hit the MENA economies hard, the crisis could also bring new opportunities to benefit from global trends, such as reshoring and restructuring of global and regional value chains. The extent to which this is possible will depend on sustaining existing reforms underway, enacting targeted new strategies and measures for the post-Covid-19 context, and reinforcing regional cooperation. In a study prepared by the MENA-OECD (Paris
The Programme covered 18 economies of the region: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen
