A Zone for Employment and Economic Development (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''Zonas de empleo y desarrollo económico'', or ZEDE) is a type of administrative division in Honduras (colloquially called a model city) that provides a high level of autonomy with its own political system, at a

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

and

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

level, while still subject to the Honduras government. Cities were planned to be created to attract investment and generate employment in currently uninhabited parts of the country, or in municipalities that agree to be converted into ZEDE zones. Every zone was to be governed by a technical secretary, elected by a committee that would oversee the adoption of best practices. The committee was in turn appointed by the

president of Honduras The president of Honduras ( es, Presidente de Honduras) officially known as the President of the Republic of Honduras (Spanish: ''Presidente de la República de Honduras''), is the head of state and head of government of Honduras, and the Com ...

. ZEDEs have been inspired by other successful

free trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cu ...

s can be found in China (

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

), in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

( Songdo), and in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. The concept of a ZEDE was criticized by many in Honduras as an attack on the nation's sovereignty. In 2022, Honduran president

Xiomara Castro Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento (; born 30 September 1959), also known as Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, is a Honduran politician who is the 56th president of Honduras, in office since January 2022. She is the country's first female president, havin ...

signed a measure to repeal the enabling legislation, leaving the existing ZEDEs in limbo.

Objectives

ZEDE has the following objectives for economic development: # International logistics centres that permit the processing of goods at a grand scale (such as the

Colón Free Trade Zone The Colón Free Trade Zone is a free port in Panama dedicated to re-exporting a wide variety of merchandise to Latin America and the Caribbean. It is located on the Caribbean coast, near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, in the province ...

in Panamá). # International business courts that resolve disputes between both national and foreign business entities (such as the

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

). # Special investment districts that permit the creation of centres for the service sector (such as the

Cayman Enterprise City Cayman Enterprise City is a development project which consists of three special economic zones focused on attracting knowledge-based and specialized-services businesses to set up a physical presence in the Cayman Islands. It is a government initi ...

, Cayman Islands). # Districts for renewable energy that permit investment in renewable energy (such as the

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s in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States). # Special economic zones in which the laws that govern the economy will be different from the rest of the country. National laws might be suspended in favor of solutions based on a

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

. Compare

, China. # Zones subject to a special judicial system that function under a judicial tradition different from the usual (such as the courts in the financial districts of

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

that are subject to

Common Law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

). # Special agro-industrial zones that permit incentives for exporting high-quality agricultural products (such as the cultivation of

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). # Special tourist zones that permit special conditions for creating centres for tourism in undeveloped parts of the country.

Projected impact

Recently, economists at the

Universidad Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín University (Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical ...

conducted an economic impact analysis examining how ZEDEs might impact the Honduran economy. They found that a ZEDE which resembles the growth rates of China's Special Economic Zones would reach $36,000 GDP per capita by 2050, but such claims are widely disputed.

Current ZEDEs

List may be incomplete or out of date. * Próspera - Technology and Services ZEDE. Located next to the village of Crawfish Rock on the Island of Roatan. Prospera's Laws allow for expansion along coastal Honduras. On March 18, 2021 they confirmed the addition of an area near the Satuye area of

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida and a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part of the south eastern bo ...

, labeled as "Port Satuye". * Ciudad Morazán - Low Income Manufacturing (''Maquila'') Employee Community and Industrial Zone. Located near the city of

Choloma Choloma is a city and municipality in the Honduran department of Cortés. It is the third-largest city in Honduras with a population of 202,000 (2020 calculation). Many factories are stationed in Choloma due to its cheap labour which has booste ...

in the Department of Cortes. Phase 1 of the development will entail in a gated low-income housing project. Phase 2 will create manufacturing areas within the gated community. * ZEDE Orquídea, in Choluteca - For the agricultural industry with the parent company Agroalpha. Located at Las Tapias in the municipality of San Marcos de Colon. Agroalpha will construct a large greenhouse for cultivation of produce for foreign exports. ZEDE Orquídea has adopted the common law of the State of Delaware as its applicable private law. In April 2022, the Honduran Congress repealed the Constitutional Amendments and Laws that created the ZEDE regime. However, the three existing ZEDE are grandfathered in for a period of 50 years, as per their Legal Stability Agreements, Article 45 of the ZEDE Organic Law, and the Bilateral Investment Treaty with the Government of Kuwait

Potential candidates and failed ZEDEs

* Unnamed Peña Blanca ZEDE - Originally proposed as the first ZEDE with a focus in the agricultural sector. Peña Blanca was selected for its location near the agricultural and manufacturing region of Valle de Sula. The project ultimately failed to receive local support. * Unnamed Suyapa ZEDE - Religious tourism ZEDE surrounding Districto Central's Basilica de Suyapa. It failed to receive local support. * Unnamed Valle ZEDE - Distributed among the three municipalities of Nacaome, Amapala and Alianza. The Valle ZEDE was intended to function as an agricultural and logistics ZEDE, with the department's capital, Nacaome, serving as an agricultural research center, Alianza, on the border with El Salvador, as a logistics free trade zone, and the island city of Amapala as a megaport on the Pacific's

Gulf of Fonseca The Gulf of Fonseca ( es, Golfo de Fonseca; ), a part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. History Fonseca Bay was discovered for Europeans in 1522 by Gil González de Ávil ...

References

External links