On June 4 and 5, Araújo Ibarra led key sessions at the APEC Workshop on Harnessing Digitalization and Emerging Technologies to Promote Transparency and Efficiency in Free Trade Zones, a two-day virtual event convened with Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism and co-sponsored by South Korea and China.
The workshop opened with a keynote from Martín Gustavo Ibarra, CEO of Araújo Ibarra International Business Consultants and WTC Free Zone Global Leader, on the global trends and business models shaping free trade zones and their relevance for APEC economies. Three ideas from his remarks framed the conversation that followed:
Key TakeawayS:
- Digital tools are no longer optional. They are what makes FTZs and SEZs efficient and competitive in a global market that no longer tolerates friction.
- Free zones are more than fiscal incentives. They are hubs for industrial development and engines for driving national economies forward.
- Digitalized zones are becoming strategic platforms for global competitiveness, investment attraction, and next-generation regional value chains.
- Free zones function as neutral spaces for the cross-border flow of raw materials, inputs, and logistics, a role that grows in importance as countries mature economically and need more sophisticated trade tools.
- They are laboratories for new business. Free zones attract anchor companies and help balance investment opportunities across regions.
The second day brought together some of the sector’s most influential voices for a high-level dialogue on global standards, including Matthew Stephenson, CEO of the World Free Zones Organization; Julio Rodríguez, Chief Executive of the Association of Free Zones of the Americas; and Jeffrey J. Tafel, President of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones in the United States.
María Camila Moreno, Free Trade Zone Specialist from the OECD, introduced the organization’s new Certification Scheme for Free Trade Zones, designed to combat illicit trade flows and strengthen regulatory oversight worldwide. Representatives from Costa Rica and Colombia followed with practical accounts of how free trade zones interface with customs authorities in their respective countries.
The breadth of participation, spanning Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and international standard-setting bodies, underscores a point that runs through everything FZGG works toward: digitalization and transparency are the baseline expectation for any zone that wants to remain credible to investors, relevant to its national economy, and competitive on a global scale.
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