Special Economic Zone & City Management Experts Consult on ‘Anaklia City’ Project

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and city management experts Tom Bell and Michael Castle Miller paid a visit to Georgia to share their experiences in terms of modern and successful states, and to consult on SEZs.

“Anaklia City and the Anaklia SEZ development will definitely be based on foreign countries’ experiences to build the best,” said Keti Bochorishvili, Executive Director of ‘Anaklia City’.

On February 28, Professor Tom Bell, American professor, internet and communication law expert and adjunct scholar of Cato Institute, gave a public lecture at TBC Gallery whereby he discussed world trends and why SEZs are so popular nowadays.

“There are a lot of prospects in this project, if they go big and bold! In the US, people like SEZs, areas where you don’t have to pay customs. And why have so many countries done it? Because it works!”

He gave the example of Hong-Kong, where the Chinese started implementing SEZs.

“Now the majority of China is made up of SEZs!” he said.

During the lecture, Bell also spoke about ‘Anaklia City’ project’s territorial advantages and the fact that “it is a very important zone for Georgia, because there can easily be a lot of trade.” That, although the World Trade Organization (WTO) is, as he said, frowning upon the SEZ concept as it brings benefits for just select industries, seen by the WTO as an “unfair trade trick.”

Nia Pataraia