Introduction

For a number of centuries, governments, emperors, kings, queens, rulers and presidents have been providing traders and investors with special sites offering respite and relief from the normal import-export tax regimes and regulations in return for a steady stream of much-needed revenue for the national coffers. Free points are ignored by international institutions, even though their export activities can be important. This is partly because free points are much less visible in the landscape than the free zones, especially since the countries concerned have given them very different names. Free zone development differs from one country to another. Different countries use different types and concepts of free zones. In some countries, free zones are developed to stimulate the incoming trade, as in the case of the US, while in others, such as developing countries, they exist to stimulate the export-oriented trade.