While Jamaica continues to work painstakingly at its model of special economic zones as a central point for increased foreign direct investment flows, Cuba, Colombia and the Dominican Republic have been collecting awards for improvements to facilities offered to investors.

Global Free Zones of the Year Awards 2016, a creation of the research group fDI Intelligence, acknowledges the most promising free zones across the world. For 2016, 60 entries were received from free zones globally.

Crowned the best free zone in Latin America, Zona Franca Santander in Colombia is also the winner in the sub-regional South America category.

Global winner was United Arab Emirates’ DMCC, which offers investors state-of-the-art office space in developments such as its glass box-style building, and other developments that are custom-made for investing companies. It is comprised of 66 mixed-use towers, which include five hotels, 92 education establishments and 500 retail outlets, meaning companies from a wide range of industries and sectors call DMCC home, including Modul University Vienna, which has opened its first and only overseas campus in the zone.

fDI said setting up a business in the zone now takes just 15 days, down from 31, and business renewals are processed in just four days. All documents are digital, which means investors can get hold of relevant paperwork in hours.

Regional winner Zona Franca Santander, fDI said, works closely with investment promotion agencies Invest in Santander and Procolombia to develop potential in the energy, health and global services sectors. Investors can take advantage of the ‘40,000 Jobs Programme’, a government-backed initiative that aims to generate new jobs in the region and offers up to 50 per cent of the cost of hiring young professionals.

Also highly commended in the region is Zona Franca Santiago in the Dominican Republic, where investing companies received over the review period an improved power supply, telecommunications infrastructure and sustainable power generation, as well as practical on-site facilities, such as banking, a medical care centre and pharmacies.

The Mariel Special Development Zone in Cuba came in for honourable mention. Established in 2013, and a newcomer to fDI’s Global Free Zones of the Year awards, the zone has developed basic infrastructure, including secondary roads, water supply networks, electricity connections and ICT grids, as well as the Mariel Container Terminal, a modern deep-water port designed to receive Panamax ships.

fDI noted that the zone is strategically located at the crossroads of major maritime shipping routes, and has multimodal connectivity.

“Investors need only wait between 35 and 65 days for approval of projects, and benefit from a range of tax exemptions, including profit tax exemption, capital transfer abroad, tax exemption and duty-free exports, among others,” fDI stated.

Jamaica, like several other Caribbean countries, was not mentioned in the report.