Special Economic Zones in ASEAN

Abstract

Most of the ASEAN Member States have been implementing special economic zones (SEZ) to attract investments, create jobs, and to encourage exports. SEZ may include export processing zones, free trade zones, technology parks, and the digital free trade zone. Newer ASEAN Member States are also launching their own SEZ like the Thilawa SEZ in Myanmar and the Savan Seno Park in Lao PDR. However, each member state has its own style of SEZ development and different types of SEZ for different purposes. The chapter studies the similarities and differences of the SEZ in three ASEAN Member States, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Malaysia. In Laos, Savan-Seno in Savannakhet was established in 2002, with access to Thailand and Vietnam. In Malaysia, the Penang model works on industrial cluster development, which is also adopted in the Johor and Klang Valley zones. In Myanmar, Thilawa SEZ began operation in 2015, mainly through collaborations with Japanese investors. Hence, it is important to understand these differences in order to find the recommended approaches for ASEAN.