E. S. BIRYUKOV Candidate of Economic Sciences MGIMO-University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia O. V. BIRYUKOVA Candidate of Economic Sciences National Research University "Higher School of Economics" Keywords: special economic zones, special economic zones, GCC, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)* develop and implement economic diversification strategies to reduce dependence on oil exports. An important place in these programs is assigned to special economic zones( SEZs), i.e. territories that have a legal and administrative regime that differs from the regime in the main territory of a given state. Due to the large functional and geographical diversity of special economic zones, there is no single unified typology. According to the classification of experts of the World Bank (WB), SEZs are divided into free economic zones( FEZs), export-production zones, hybrid zones (including the features of the first two types of zones), port, urban, and export-production zones for a single enterprise. Supplement to this classification - a list of types of specialized zones, which include: technology or science parks, industrial zones, financial service zones, areas with specialization in software and the Internet, airport, tourist zones, logistics parks or warehouses 1. There are a number of shortcomings in the WB classification - industrial zones are not singled out separately, since they may be wider than state zones. In some countries, depending on their economic priorities, preference is given to different types of SEZs. So, in Russia, the law "On Special Economic Zones" lists four types: industrial and production, technical and innovation, tourist and recreational and port 2. The GCC countries have developed free economic zones, industrial zones and districts, so-called economic cities, specialized zones, and financial centers. SEZs are created to encourage countries to participate in the international division o ... Read more