Commonwealth countries are looking at the Philippines’ model in special economic zone (SEZ) development.
QaziYawarNaeem, trade competitiveness adviser of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, paid a visit to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to look into the Philippines’ SEZs as basis for a case study for the Trade Competitiveness Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
“The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Trade Competitiveness Section of the Trade, Oceansand Natural Resources Directorate provides technical assistance to 56 member countries of The Commonwealth to improve their trade competitiveness in global markets. Interventions are targeted at the national level, and where requested, escalated to the regional and pan-Commonwealth levels,”Naeem said.
With this, they are currently studying how they can strengthen the ecozones of the Commonwealth member states especially in the information technology sector and e-commerce, and they are looking into the success stories and best practices of SEZs that they can emulate.
“The Philippines is at the forefront of developing economic zones and PEZA’s name was specifically mentioned in the previous investment reports as well as your success stories for developing ecozones and in attracting foreign direct investments in those ecozones,” said Naeem, citing the Philippines is eyed for best practices since the 2019 World Investment report from UNCTAD recognizing the Philippines’ internationally acclaimed performance in establishing new SEZs, second to China.
In PEZA, the top Commonwealth member countriesBritain and Singaporeare among the highest investors contributing to 6.88 percent and 3.97 percent of the Authority’s total investments, respectively.
PEZA manages a total of 420 economic zones nationwide with 4,534 registered business enterprises. –Irma Isip
