This report offers a comparative roadmap for turning Pakistan’s underperforming SEZs into engines of industrialisation by learning from China’s SEZ success. The report explains how Chinese zones like Shenzhen thrived through clear governance, strong central–local coordination, preferential tax regimes, one-window investor facilitation and massive infrastructure investment. It then contrasts this with Pakistan’s fragmented federal–provincial approach, weak infrastructure, bureaucratic delays, security concerns and the drift of SEZs into real-estate plays. Finally, it outlines concrete legal, fiscal and institutional reforms, from harmonised incentives and streamlined approvals to stronger private-sector participation to align Pakistan’s SEZ framework with China’s model in the context of CPEC Phase II.
