Sri Lanka provides an interesting example through Port City Colombo, which is seeking to develop an international business and investment platform connected to Sri Lanka, South Asia and global markets. Its long-term relevance will depend on execution, including the quality of its regulatory environment, the businesses it attracts, access to talent and professional services, and the commercial relationships that develop around the platform. These factors will ultimately determine how effectively it develops from a physical development into a functioning business ecosystem.

Building a new business platform for South Asia

There is also a broader opportunity for stronger connections between established Gulf ecosystems and emerging platforms across South Asia. The UAE has spent decades developing environments that allow international companies to establish regional operations and connect with markets beyond the country itself. As Gulf businesses, family enterprises and investors increasingly look towards South Asia, platforms that can provide a more structured way to enter and operate in the region will become increasingly relevant.

Port City Colombo is beginning to demonstrate how this proposition can take shape in practice. What started as a major urban development has evolved into a dedicated Special Economic Zone with an established regulatory commission, a single window investment facilitation framework and a growing base of international businesses. In the first half of 2026 alone, 71 Businesses of Strategic Importance were approved, representing more than $600 million in new investment. Recent cross-border engagement, including a partnership with Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone, points towards the kind of institutional relationships that can connect the platform to established Gulf ecosystems over time.

The more relevant question is not whether a development of this scale can attract initial investment, it clearly can, but whether it can develop the wider ecosystem that makes it genuinely useful to the businesses operating within it. That depends on the quality of the regulatory environment, access to talent and professional services, and the network of businesses that builds around the platform over time. Those are the factors that have determined the long-term relevance of the UAE’s most successful economic zones, and they are the same factors that will determine whether emerging South Asian platforms can become credible gateways for international capital.

The next generation of economic zones will therefore need to think carefully about the ecosystems they are building. Physical infrastructure and regulatory clarity remain essential, but the strongest platforms will increasingly be those that bring together professional services, talent, technology, capital and sector expertise while connecting businesses to ports, airports, financial centres and neighbouring markets.

This is one of the lessons that can be drawn from the UAE’s experience. The country’s economic zones have remained relevant because the proposition around the businesses operating within them has continued to become broader and more sophisticated. The focus has expanded from providing an efficient place to establish a company towards creating environments in which businesses can build relationships, access markets and grow.

South Asia now has an opportunity to apply those lessons within its own context. For Gulf investors and businesses assessing emerging platforms in the region, the quality of the wider ecosystem, the markets it can connect to and the opportunities it can create over the long term may ultimately matter as much as the incentives available at the point of entry.

Dr Adil Alzarooni

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From free zones to business ecosystems