Industrialization anchors economic growth, industrial development, and facilitates trade creation and special economic zones (SEZs) are a key policy tool in this endeavour.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 7th SADC Industrialization Week & Exhibition, which kicked off in Harare, Zimbabwe on July 28 2024, Eunice Kamwendo, Director of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA), highlighted that SEZs are an important policy tool to support private sector development, including micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises.

“SEZs should align with a country’s comparative and competitive advantage and be supported by a conducive policy and regulatory environment, including the integration of these zones into broader national development plans and policy frameworks,” said Kamwendo, adding that “strong political will is necessary to secure bilateral investment commitments to the zones by providing confidence to investors.”

Kamwendo emphasized that stakeholders in the region should consider the specific needs, priorities, and comparative and competitive advantages of each country in the region in deciding on specific SEZs approaches. In addition, she underlined that it is crucial to introduce transparent and harmonised policy, legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks for transboundary SEZs to facilitate growth of regional value chains.