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<div class="page">
<header>
<div class="kicker">UNCTAD · Digital Government Program <span class="tag">Basis for discussion</span></div>
<h1>Digitalization of SEZ registration and procedures in Central Asia</h1>
<div class="audience">Meeting with the WFZO Regional Office · July 2026</div>
</header>
<div class="cred">
<span>Methods and tools used in more than 60 countries</span>
<span>eRegistrations platform co-developed with Estonia</span>
<span>Officials trained through the UN Digital Government Academy (with UNITAR)</span>
</div>
<div class="purpose">
<h2>This conversation</h2>
<p>A potential <strong>roadmap</strong> for supporting the digitalization of SEZ registration and related procedures, in <strong>Kazakhstan</strong> and across <strong>Central Asia</strong>.</p>
<p>And the possible <strong>areas of collaboration</strong> between UNCTAD and the WFZO Regional Office.</p>
</div>
<h2 class="section-title">What UNCTAD can bring</h2>
<div class="services">
<!-- 01 Legal frameworks -->
<section class="service">
<div class="service-head">
<div class="num">01</div>
<h3>Simple laws for zones</h3>
</div>
<div class="pic">
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</svg>
</div>
<p class="lead">Reviewing the SEZ legal framework of each country.</p>
<ul>
<li>Understand the law as it stands.</li>
<li>Simplify wherever the text allows it.</li>
<li>Where no zone law exists, write a simple one from scratch.</li>
</ul>
<div class="quote">
Drafting a zone law is <em>not a legal problem</em>. It is a business question:
what does the country expect from the companies that will come,
and what can it offer them?
</div>
<p class="note">
Expected: jobs, revenue, technology transfer, and the returns most laws forget:
skills, research, new institutional capacity.
Offered: not only land and tax relief, but fast licensing, clear rules and stable conditions.
Once both sides are clear, the law is short and easy to write.
</p>
</section>
<!-- 02 Digitization -->
<section class="service">
<div class="service-head">
<div class="num">02</div>
<h3>Simplify, then digitize</h3>
</div>
<div class="pic">
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</div>
<p class="lead">Turning zone procedures into simple online services.</p>
<ul>
<li>Simplification first: remove steps, then digitize what remains.</li>
<li>One digital counter for applications, permits and renewals.</li>
<li>For the three actors every zone law recognizes:</li>
</ul>
<div class="actors">
<span class="actor">Developers</span>
<span class="actor">Occupants</span>
<span class="actor">Service providers</span>
</div>
<div class="quote">
The procedure should become <em>so simple</em> that the zone's website
does not need to explain it. The website shows the offer:
which zones, what benefits for enterprises, and where they are.
</div>
<p class="proof">Already done in Jamaica: developer procedures digitized,
and <a href="https://jseza.eregistrations.dev/zones-dashboard">every zone on one map</a>,
as easy to explore as a booking site.</p>
</section>
<!-- 03 Configurable regional system -->
<section class="service">
<div class="service-head">
<div class="num">03</div>
<h3>One configurable system for the region</h3>
</div>
<div class="pic">
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</div>
<p class="lead">A standard zone procedure and system, configurable for any free zone in Central Asia.</p>
<ul>
<li>One template: the simplest rational path from application to authorization.</li>
<li>Each country configures institutions, fees and controls, without rebuilding.</li>
<li>Companies find the same clear process in every member zone.</li>
</ul>
<p class="note">
Not a copy of what exists elsewhere: procedures designed to be simple and
rational, then adapted to each country's law.
</p>
</section>
</div>
<h2 class="section-title">A possible roadmap</h2>
<div class="roadmap">
<div class="step-line"></div>
<div class="step">
<div class="step-head"><div class="num">1</div><h3>Kazakhstan first</h3></div>
<p>Review the SEZ legal framework and pick one zone to start with.</p>
</div>
<div class="step">
<div class="step-head"><div class="num">2</div><h3>One visible result</h3></div>
<p>Simplify and digitize one registration procedure end to end, developers first, as in Jamaica.</p>
</div>
<div class="step">
<div class="step-head"><div class="num">3</div><h3>Extend</h3></div>
<p>All procedures of the zone, for developers, occupants and service providers.</p>
</div>
<div class="step">
<div class="step-head"><div class="num">4</div><h3>Regionalize</h3></div>
<p>The configurable template, offered to every zone in Central Asia.</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2 class="section-title">Possible areas of collaboration</h2>
<div class="collab">
<div class="collab-block">
<h3>The WFZO Regional Office can bring the zones</h3>
<p>Identifies the member countries and zones ready to start, and convenes them at regional level.</p>
</div>
<div class="collab-block">
<h3>UNCTAD can bring the method and the tools</h3>
<p>Legal review, simplification, the eRegistrations platform, and training through the UN Digital Government Academy.</p>
</div>
<div class="collab-block">
<h3>Together</h3>
<p>A pilot in Kazakhstan, then a regional workshop to show the results to member zones.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="questions">
<span class="tag">To discuss</span>
<p>Which member zones would volunteer first?</p>
<p>What role does the Regional Office want: convener, co-owner of the regional template, or both?</p>
</div>
<footer>
<p class="next"><strong>A good way to start:</strong> one country, one zone, one procedure digitized, then show it to the region.</p>
<p class="org">UNCTAD · Digital Government Program · July 2026</p>
</footer>
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