I was recently called upon by fDi Magazine, to serve on the judging panel in their 2nd Global Ranking of Economic Zones. Alongside other leading experts on the panel, I assessed more than 600 free zones from 120 different countries, judging them on criteria including facilities, promotion strategies, services, transportation, incentives offered, and cost-effectiveness as well as drawing on my expert knowledge and experiences.
The result placed Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dafza (UAE) top as “fDi Magazine’s Global Free Zone of the Future 2012/2013”. The success of zones has been highlighted as being thanks to one of two strategies: either becoming highly specialized so offering unique facilities to specific industries or diversifying, investing in infrastructure and offering a wide range of services – as in the case of Dafza. Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, the Dafza director-general, is quoted in explaining that without diminishing the importance of the role of European companies, representing the majority of clients at 37%, their future strategy includes diversification by focusing on the Far East.
Alongside Dafza, other zones from the Middle East were notably successful in the rankings, with 23 out of the top 50; however Eastern European zones were also dominant. For example, the Freeport of Ventspils in Latvia was declared the second best Port Zone in the rankings. The successes of Eastern Europe can be easily explained, considering the high quality infrastructure, “world-class” transportation and ease of accessibility. As such, the world is looking not only to the Middle East, but to Europe for the top global free zones of the future.
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