Chinese Government trains 50 South African Special Economic Zones (SEZ) practitioners on the development of SEZs

From May 31 to June 7, 2018, the Chinese Government trained 50 South African special economic zones (SEZ) practitioners and supporting sector specialists on the development of SEZa in Tianjin, China.

These 50 trainees are members of South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), provincial departments, local municipalities, and agencies responsible for the implementation of SEZs in South Africa.

The aim of the training was to equip the trainees with knowledge on the planning, development, management and operations of the SEZs, and it will cover a range of topics including planning, infrastructure development, developing investment propositions, marketing tools, and channels, and how to deal with potential investors, stakeholder management including international alliances, public-private partnerships models, financing and managing operations of the SEZ..

The financial value of the training is unknown.

This training is part of a larger program in which the Chinese Government signed an agreement to train 150 South African DTI officials over a 5-year period for developing SEZs. This project captures the fifth group of officials trained under this agreement. As of 2019, 80 government officials have been trained in the planning, development, and management of SEZs.