Launched in 2010, the Nkok Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a multi-sectoral industrial park located 27 km from Libreville. On 1126 ha, it includes an industrial zone, a commercial zone and a residential zone. The SEZ brings together 144 companies from 19 countries operating in 22 industrial sectors, including a cluster dedicated to wood processing which brings together 84 companies. GSEZ is a PPP between ARISE IIP and the government of Gabon.
Ranked Best industrial zone of the world in wood sector by FDI Intelligence-Financial Times in 2020.
Covered 85% by forest, on 22 million hectares, Gabon has a stock of exploitable wood of 130 million m3 of Okoumé and 270 million m3 of other species. GSEZ has enabled the country to develop and modernise a wood sector that was previously not very promising by relying on specialisation, one-stop services and alignment with the national development strategy. With 3.4 million m3 produced each year, Gabon has become Africa’s leading producer and exporter of tropical plywood, and the world’s second largest exporter. The country intends to go further in adding value to its wood products by transforming GSEZ into a centre for the manufacture of "Made in Gabon" furniture by 2025.
HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ALI BONGO ONDIMBA,
President of the Gabonese Republic
Faced with growing demands, GSEZ has made sustainability, traceability and certification one of its priorities. All of Gabon’s forest concessions are operated according to the sustainable forest management practices prescribed by the Gabonese Forest Code. In terms of traceability, since October 2018, GSEZ has benefited from the services of the Tracer-Nkok agency, which filters the logs entering the zone in order to limit the risk of illegal timber as much as possible. By 2022, all the country’s forest concessions will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and PAFC/PEFC Gabon in order to improve the traceability of the wood and respect for communities and workers.
16,000
direct and indirect jobs created
$265 MILLIONS
worth of products exported annually
820,000 M3
of timber processed in 2020
$1.7 BILLION
generated in direct foreign investments
