The Commonwealth is a free association of sovereign independent slates, numbering 50 at the beginning of 1993. There is no charter, treaty or constitution; the association is expressed in co-operation, consultation and mutual assistance for which the Commonwealth Secretariat is the central co-ordinating body.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Ce rapport presente la synthese des conclusions du projet sur les Pressions commerciales sur les terres dans le monde, coordonne par le Secretariat de la Coalition internationale pour l'acces a la terre (ILC) avec le soutien d'un de ses membres, le CIRAD, et la collaboration de plus de quarante organisations locales et de la societe civile, universitaires et instituts de recherche du monde entier. Vingt-huit etudes de cas, etudes thematiques et comptes rendus regionaux resultant de ce projet ont deja ete publies. Ce rapport inclut en outre des donnees plus recentes issues de la matrice des transactions foncieres en cours, destinee a faire le suivi de ces operations a grande echelle. L'objectif est de presenter, resumer et interpreter les elements qui aujourd'hui se degagent de ces deux projets realises en collaboration. L'objectif est de tirer de cet ensemble de donnees des conclusions concernant les caracteristiques principales de cette ruee vers les terres, ses consequences, les facteurs contextuels qui determinent ces consequences, et les reponses que la societe civile, les gouvernements et les partenaires du developpement doivent y apporter. Le theme de ce rapport est plus communement appele " accaparement des terres ". Il fait l'objet d'une attention generale depuis 2008, suite a une serie d'accords transnationaux tres mediatises sur la location de terres d'une surface sans precedent. Bien que les transactions les plus mediatisees aient ete transnationales par nature et centrees sur la production de denrees alimentaires et de biocarburants, il est difficile sur le plan analytique de les distinguer des tendances plus generales du phenomene croissant de pression commerciale sur les terres, caracterise par un ensemble plus diversifie d'acteurs, d'echelles et de facteurs economiques. Cette pression fait partie de processus historiques de transformation economique et sociale a plus long terme. Neanmoins, avec l'intensification des pressions commerciales sur les terres depuis la crise des prix alimentaires de 2008, ceux-ci sont entres dans une nouvelle phase. C'est dans ce sens que ce rapport parle de nouvelle " ruee sur les terres "

Land rights and the rush for land : findings of the global commercial pressures on land research project

Drawing on the Land Matrix database, this paper contains an in depth analysis of large-scale agricultural land transactions that entail a transfer of rights to use, control or own land, that have been concluded since the year 2000. It particularly focuses on (i) land acquisitions or investments targeting the Global South and Eastern Europe; (ii) transnational deals, excluding deals where only domestic actors are involved;(iii) and deals where the envisioned land use is agricultural. The report argues that ? although it has lost some of its initial pace ? the worldwide rush for land is real, going beyond just speculation and strategic positioning. According to the Land Matrix, a large number of contracts have been signed and are being implemented. Operations have started on several projects.However, as the report shows, the "global land rush" is anything but a simple phenomenon. It involves a large number of target countries with very different investment conditions, as well as a great variety of actors with divers investment motives. Each land deal has its own specific characteristics. While the report gives an overall overview of the phenomenon, it also endeavours to present an in-depth picture of the different large-scale land transactions? specificities

Transnational land deals for agriculture in the Global South

Ask three people to describe a special economic zone (SEZ) and three very different images may emerge. The first person may describe a fenced-in industrial estate in a developing country, populated by footloose multinational corporations (MNCs) enjoying tax breaks, with laborers in garment factories working in substandard conditions. In contrast, the second person may recount the 'miracle of Shenzhen,' a fishing village transformed into a cosmopolitan city of 14 million, with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growing 100-fold, in the 30 years since it was designated as an SEZ. A third person may think about places like Dubai or Singapore, whose ports serve as the basis for wide range of trade- and logistics-oriented activities. In this book, the author use SEZ as a generic expression to describe the broad range of modern economic zones discussed in this book. But we are most concerned with two specific forms of those zones: (1) the export processing zones (EPZs) or free zones, which focus on manufacturing for export; and (2) the large-scale SEZs, which usually combine residential and multiuse commercial and industrial activity. The former represents a traditional model used widely throughout the developing world for almost four decades. The latter represents a more recent form of economic zone, originating in the 1980s in China and gaining in popularity in recent years. Although these models need not be mutually exclusive (many SEZs include EPZ industrial parks within them), they are sufficiently different in their objectives, investment requirements, and approach to require a distinction in this book.

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Special economic zones : progress, emerging challenges, and future directions

Economic zones have grown rapidly in the past 20 years. In 1986, the International Labor Organization's (ILO's) database reported 176 zones in 47 countries; by 2006, it reported 3,500 zones in 130 countries. This huge growth occurred despite many zones having failed to meet their objectives; however, many others are contributing significantly to growth in foreign direct investment (FDI), exports, and employment, as well as playing a catalytic role in integration into global trade and structural transformation, including industrialization and upgrading. This study aims to address some of these questions and deliver an analysis that is both data-driven and policy-focused. The objective of the study is to explore the experience of zone programs, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, to understand the factors that contribute to static and dynamic outcomes. It aims to provide input to the question of whether and how zones can make a significant contribution to job creation, diversification, and sustainable growth in African and other low-income countries.

Special Economic Zones in Africa: Comparing Performance and Learning from Global Experiences

This article examines recent Chinese efforts to construct a series of official economic cooperation zones in Africa. These zones are a central platform in China's announced strategy of engagement in Africa as ‘mutual benefit’. We analyse the background, motives and implementation of the zones, and argue that they form a unique, experimental model of development cooperation in Africa: market-based decisions and investment by Chinese companies are combined with support and subsidies from an Asian ‘developmental state’. Though this cooperation provides a promising new approach to sustainable industrialisation, we also identify serious political, economic and social challenges. Inadequate local learning and local participation could affect the ability of the zones to catalyse African industrialisation. The synergy between Chinese enterprises, the Chinese government and African governments has been evolving through practice. A case study of Egypt provides insight into this learning process.

African Shenzhen: China's special economic zones in Africa

Agriculture is a rapidly growing arena for China's economic engagement in Africa. Drawing on new field research in East and West Africa, and in Beijing and Baoding, China, as well as earlier archival research, this article investigates the dimensions of China's agricultural engagement, placing it in historical perspective. It traces the changes and continuities in China's policies in rural Africa since the 1960s, as Chinese policies moved from fraternal socialism to amicable capitalism. Beginning in the 1980s, the emphasis on aid as mutual benefit began to blur the lines between aid, south–south co-operation and investment. Today, Beijing has established at least 14 new agro-technical demonstration stations using an unusual public–private model that policy makers hope will assist sustainability. At the same time, a stirring of interest among land-scarce Chinese farmers and investors in developing farms in sub-Saharan Africa evokes a mix of anticipation and unease.

China's Engagement in African Agriculture: “Down to the Countryside”

China's rapidly growing economic engagement with other developing countries has aroused intense debates, but these debates have often generated more heat than light. The Chinese government is clearly pushing its companies to move offshore in greater numbers, and state-owned firms figure prominently in many of the major investments abroad. Yet relatively little research exists on when, how and why the Chinese government intervenes in the overseas economic activities of its firms. China's state-sponsored economic diplomacy in other developing countries could play three major strategic roles: strengthening resource security, enhancing political relationships and soft power, and boosting commercial opportunities for national firms. This article examines China's programme to establish overseas special economic zones as one tool of Beijing's economic statecraft. It traces the process by which they were established and implemented, and investigates the characteristics of the 19 zones initially selected in a competitive tender process. The article concludes that even in countries rich in natural resources, the overseas zones were overwhelmingly positioned as commercial projects. Particularly in the Asian zones, China is following in the footsteps of Japan. The zone programme, and the Chinese foreign investment it hoped to foster, represents a clear case of the international projection of China's developmental state. However, in Africa (but not generally elsewhere) discourse surrounding the zones publicly positions them as a transfer of China's own development success, thus potentially enhancing China's political relationships and soft power on the continent.

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Economic statecraft in China's new overseas special economic zones: soft power, business or resource security?

China's recent moves to establish special economic zones (SEZs) in several African countries can make a significant contribution to industrialization in Africa. But the success of these projects is by no means guaranteed. Meeting the objectives of both China and African countries will require an active partnership and a framework for collaboration that includes engagement from host governments, processes for phasing-in local control, communication and enforcement of standards, and support for integration with local economies.

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China's investment in African special economic zones : prospects, challenges, and opportunities

This paper provides a preliminary analysis of the nature of Chinese manufacturing investments in Africa, focusing predominantly on four countries â€“ Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania â€“ but also including examples as illustrations from other countries, when appropriate. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2014 and 2015, the paper explores the varieties of existing Chinese manufacturing investment and the sectors into which Chinese companies are investing. We demonstrate in this paper that Chinese manufacturing investment in Africa is indeed expanding rapidly, yet the official data on investment approvals, both in China and in African countries, significantly overstates the actual number of investments in operation. Several investors do fit the model of Akamatsuâ€™s â€˜flying geeseâ€™: large firms seeking new locations for production as part of global networks and value chains. However, we also identified three other kinds of â€˜geeseâ€™: large, strategic, local market-seeking geese; raw material-seeking geese; and small geese travelling together in flocks. The different kinds of firms offer different kinds of development opportunities and challenges for structural transformation in Africa.

Tang Xiaoyang

Papers

African Shenzhen: China's special economic zones in Africa

China's Engagement in African Agriculture: “Down to the Countryside”

Economic statecraft in China's new overseas special economic zones: soft power, business or resource security?

China's investment in African special economic zones : prospects, challenges, and opportunities

What Kinds of Chinese ‘Geese’ Are Flying to Africa? Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms