Wednesday, August 19, 2015

China's Special Economic Zone in Mauritius: A Cautionary Tale

The China Africa Project put online on 14 August 2015 a 23-minute podcast titled "China's Special Economic Zones in Africa: Lots of Hype, Little Hope" with James Wan, editor of the Royal African Society's editorial site African Arguments.  The title is something of a misnomer as the interview is confined to the problems experienced by the special economic zone in Mauritius.  Wan attributes the problems in Mauritius to the poor timing of the project just ahead of the Western economic crisis in 2007-2009 and the selection of Chinese companies to run the zone that were inexperienced in Africa.  Wan concluded that it may be necessary to reconfigure the zone before it can become successful.