Report by Engineering Post
Number of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have risen to 44 in 2025 against just seven in 2019 under the great game changer, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which was all set to formally enter its second phase after successful completion of the first phase.
As many as 37 new SEZs were recently notified following the coordinated efforts led by the Board of Investment of the Federal Government.
The Project Management Unit of the CPEC Industrial Cooperation Development Project (PMU CPEC -ICDP) serves as the implementation arm of the Board of Investment (BOI) for industrial cooperation under CPEC with BOI acting as Pakistan’s lead agency for the Joint Working Group on the Industrial Cooperation alongside China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Since its establishment in 2019, the unit has supported the expansion of SEZs framework and investors facilitation. The BOI was playing an important role in facilitating utility provisions to the SEZs in order to help the projects from planning to operational stages.
Pakistan and China, according to the officials concerned, business -to- business (B2B) was central to CPEC Phase-11 In this regard, it was also being mentioned pertinently that the B2B Investment Conference was held during the prime minister’s visit to China in September 2025 which had led to the signing of more than 160 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and joint ventures. A follow up mechanism was in place for converting the commitments into investment activity.
The long-term plan for industrial cooperation under the CPEC framework had also been finalized and was being implemented through an action plan aligned with the transition to CPEC 2.0 focusing on export-oriented manufacturing, technology transfer and value addition with SEZs positioned as anchor platforms.
Year 2026 also marks 75 years of Pakistan-China diplomatic relations and brisk preparations were underway at the appropriate highest levels in Beijing and Islamabad for celebrating the historical development quite befittingly at the appropriate level in a continuous manner aiming at deepening the mutually beneficial industrial cooperation .
