Pakistan’s ongoing economic challenges appear insurmountable today. The burgeoning current and fiscal accounts deficits present a dismal picture requiring exigent interventions both in the short and long run. Generally, short term economic measures are immediately taken while long term economic planning is ignored in Pakistan. The most convoluted component in economic planning is the formulation of a robust strategic vision capable of handling various economic externalities in the long run. The gravity of economic torpor merits investigations into long term divergent development paths of economic growth. The establishment of special economic zones (SEZs), for example, is one such path successfully followed by some leading economies of the world such as China. In this perspective, the regional focus, didactic rationale and historical context of the Shenzhen and Zhuhai SEZsin China may have several lessons for Pakistan to learn. Back in 1970s, after the Cultural Revolution ended, the Chinese economy was extremely dormant while the people were emotionally and physically drained. To cope with the situation, China established SEZs with the aim to enhance foreign direct investment and exports alongside encouraging technological innovation in the country. There were three basic objectives behind the establishment of SEZs in China: pursuing open economic policies, adopting innovative policies and establishing forward-backward industrial linkages. The forward linkages with the world were characterized by many steps such as liberalization of foreign investment and trade relations with the Western economies. The backward linkages with different parts of China were also part of the rationale for establishing SEZs. In order to strengthen the forward linkages, China first identified those areas that had a long history of contact with the outside world such as Guangdong and Fujian. In a 2009 research paper titled ‘China’s Special Economic Zones at 30’, Yeung et al. explicate the establishment of four SEZs in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian. By the year 1980, Shenzhen, Shantou and Zhuhai in Guangdong province were made SEZs cobbled with Xiamen in Fujian province. The authors also construe that these SEZs were deliberately located far away from Beijing – the center of political power. This kind of policy magnanimity was arguably meant at strengthening backward linkages. The establishment of SEZs in Pakistan must transform its focus from local to regional development by devising necessary regional couplings such as Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Zhuhai-Macao. One component of the suggested coupling should focus on forward linkages aimed at promoting regional development It may be noted that large scale projects, such as SEZs, may inherently be capricious and risky if the associated positive and negative externalities are not handled in a robustly conceived strategic framework. In case of China, regional development was discerned as the strategic purpose of establishing SEZs. Towards this end, Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Zhuhai-Macao coupling was deliberately planned with a view to ensure strong backward-forward economic linkages in line with China’s Open Door Policy. The Chinese iconoclastic experience suggests that the strategic conception of SEZs should focus on regional development by identifying such mainland coastal areas having close geographical contiguity with the outer world. The pith is that mainland areas should focus on backward linkages while the nearby foreign land may act as a conduit for the forward linkages. Pakistan’s has got a long coastal belt along Sind and Baluchistan. It is a 990 kilometer stretch that can truly be termed as the country’s strategic gateway. The 270 kilometer Sind Coast and 720 kilometer Makran Coast have a long history of trade relations with the neighboring Arab countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran. In line with Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Zhuhai-Macao strategic coupling, aimed at promoting regional development, Pakistan may also strategically frame similar regional couplings. That means Pakistan may have to showcase alacrity to open up more to the outside world by conceiving and presenting SEZs as regional economic growth poles rather than treating them as diffident cluster of local industries. This kind of policy probity is crucial for strengthening forward linkages with the outside world as was successfully witnessed in the Shenzhen and Zhuhai SEZs case studies. Subject to normalization of relations, and in complete disregard to political dissonance, such regional coupling may also be made with nearby Indian coastal cities. It is because regional economic development dynamics prevent countries from indulging in armed conflict with each other. In their 1949 seminal work titled ‘Research in regional economic growth problems’, Hoover and Fisher argue that regions undergo a five stage development phenomenon. The first stage is marked by little trade or investment and populations are located as per their natural resources distribution. The second stage witnesses improvements in transport through construction of roads and railways. At this stage the regions develop some trade alongside local specialization. In the third stage, agricultural modernization takes place. The fourth stage forces the region to industrialize owing to diminishing returns to agriculture. At the last stage, a region specializes in tertiary industry and exports its products to less developed regions. The establishment of SEZs in Pakistan must transform its focus from local to regional development by devising necessary regional couplings such as Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Zhuhai-Macao. One component of the suggested coupling should focus on forward linkages aimed at promoting regional development. The other component of the coupling must strengthen backward linkages within Pakistan. In line with Hoover and Fisher’s argument, the proposed SEZs in Pakistan may establish close liaison with the trade and investment trends in the neighboring Arab countries alongside right aligning its industrial policy and vision with the long term visions of the Gulf countries. For example, the Saudi Vision 2040 may provide some of the regional development dynamics for Pakistan’s SEZs. The overlapping of regional development interests not only prevent armed conflicts in the region but also aggrandize long term economic growth prospects in unconventional manner. The writer is a civil servant, and former Senior Specialist (SEZs) at the Punjab government, holding a PhD in Planning from Massey University, New Zealand