outubro 27, 2018

China’s Xi Jinping hails his free-trade zone policy as a milestone in country’s reform

3 minutos Xi hailed his government’s free-trade zone (FTZ) policy as a “milestone” for a “new era” of reform in a message to a high-level forum marking the fifth anniversary of the opening of the country’s first FTZ in Shanghai. Ahead of his tour of southern China, there had been hopes that the trip – held 40 years after the country embarked on its economic reforms – might provide some indication of new efforts to liberalise the economy and support an ailing private sector. But Continue lendo→

Special economic zones: engines of development or sites of exploitation?

menos de 1 minuto Special economic zones (SEZs) have spread rapidly over the past 20 years, including in many low- and middle-income countries keen to attract private investment for industrial development. But while much debate has focused on their economic performance and success factors, there are concerns over land expropriations, poor labour conditions and lost public revenues. These concerns are often partly rooted in the legal regimes that underpin SEZs — their failure to protect affected people, their exempting SEZs from national laws or Continue lendo→