Special Economic Zones and Industrial Upgrading along CPEC

The SEZs will contribute to the country’s economy in a positive way and the industrial upgrading along the CPEC route will increase the economic activity in the country. SEZs have played a pivotal role in the industrial upgrading and technology transfer in some of the most developed countries in the likes of South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

The government has promoted the tools that are essential for the upgrading of various technological aspects in numerous industries and value chains of higher-end technological firms in SEZs.

The economies of the said countries ensured that the foreign firms in SEZs only import high-end technology that does not exist in the country, transfer the knowledge associated with the imported technology and train local manpower on imported technologies. These economies also ensured that the local firms were engaged in the value chain of high-end firms established in these SEZs.

Technological upgrading is the need of the hour for our industrial sector, which is, at present, more obsessed with grabbing incentives, waivers and special trading status at the international level. The government should associate incentives and waivers with successful technological upgrading for better value-added products, both at sector and firm level; and accordingly form policies, at the national and regional level, to ensure that CPEC SEZs help in technological upgrading and diversification of our local industry.