Understanding the Success Case of the Global Economic Zone 'Dubai Economic Free Zone'
Visit to Israel and United Arab Emirates... Benchmarking Key Strategies for Attracting Businesses
Lee Dong-hwan, the mayor of Goyang City, who recently visited Dubai, announced a policy to accelerate administrative innovation for the economic free zone system. [Goyang City]
[Asia Economy Reporter La Youngcheol] As Goyang City in Gyeonggi Province has been selected as a candidate site for the Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone, Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang City, who recently visited Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a representative free economic zone in the Middle East, announced plans to establish strategies for promoting the creation of a free economic zone.
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan visited Israel and the United Arab Emirates from the 10th to the 14th to benchmark the successful cases of the UAE free economic zones and to understand overseas success cases such as corporate attraction and development strategies.
In particular, he showed interest in the current status of Dubai, which has grown into a global economic special zone, by inspecting the Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZA), Dubai Healthcare City, and the World Trade Center in the UAE.
The UAE operates "Free-zones" to revitalize manufacturing, service, and logistics industries. The trade volume of free zones amounts to $169 billion, accounting for 35% of the UAE's total trade volume as of 2019.
The Dubai Airport Free Zone was established in 1996 based at Dubai International Airport, covering an area of about 20,000 pyeong (approximately 66,115 square meters), and houses about 2,000 companies including global corporations.
It serves as a foothold for UAE air trade, focusing on aviation-related services and product trade, and has been selected as the world's best investment free zone in the global free zone rankings.
Mayor Lee said, "Since Goyang Special City is adjacent to the metropolitan area and Incheon Airport, I wondered if we could create an industrial base like the Dubai Airport Free Zone by leveraging these characteristics," adding, "We plan to explore ways to foster a free economic zone focused on economy and logistics by utilizing Goyang City's geographical advantages."
The city plans to incorporate the success factors and investment attraction support measures for fostering a global medical tourism hub, learned from visiting Dubai Healthcare City, into the strategy for establishing a free economic zone along with the bio-precision medical cluster.
Dubai Healthcare City, established in 2002, is the world's first medical-centered free trade zone and the largest healthcare district in the Middle East and Africa region. As part of the post-oil and industrial diversification strategy, it has focused on developing medical tourism, with medical tourists accounting for 15% of the 1.2 million visitors as of 2014.
Judging that Goyang City, which already has a solid medical infrastructure including six large hospitals such as the National Cancer Center, plans to specialize and preoccupy the bio and precision medical industries and link the free economic zone with the bio-precision medical cluster.
Mayor Lee met with Mahir Abdulkarim Julfar, Vice President of Dubai World Trade Center, to share information about Goyang KINTEX and the World Trade Center, and discussed the importance of future strategic industries such as the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) industry and ways to cooperate mutually.
The mayor said, "The Dubai World Trade Center is the center of the MICE industry, which plays a key role in Dubai's remarkable economic growth," adding, "I hope it will develop into a strategic partnership that grows together with Goyang City's KINTEX."
He continued, "Since Goyang City was selected as an additional candidate site for the Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone, this being the first activity has special significance," and explained, "We will carefully analyze the successful corporate attraction cases of the Dubai Free Economic Zone and prepare strategies for Goyang City's success, growth, and revitalization."
Vice President Mahir Abdulkarim Julfar expressed, "I hope Goyang City's KINTEX and the World Trade Center will have a win-win relationship rather than a competitive one," and stated, "We will actively seek ways to hold global exhibitions and events on a rotating basis."
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