TODAY.AZ / Business

American companies invited to invest in Baku FTZ

29 April 2016 [16:36] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan has invited U.S. companies to invest in the Free Trade Zone to be established in the country and open permanent representative offices in the FTZ.

Such a proposal was made by Taleh Ziyadov, Director General of the Baku International Sea Trade Port, during a forum titled "The Trans-Caspian East-West trade and transit corridor" held in Washington on April 28-29.

The forum was organized by the embassies of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkey in the U.S. and the Silk Road studies of the Central Asia-Caucasus University of the U.S.

Addressing the event, Ziyadov informed the event participants about the FTZ, which will be established under a decree of President Ilham Aliyev.

He said that transport and logistics infrastructure, petrochemical and pharmaceutical clusters will be established in the area of the FTZ.

A wide range of products will be produced there. Also, packaging, labeling operations will be carried out in the area of the FTZ.

President Aliyev signed a decree on March 17 on measures to establish a special economic area in the Alat settlement, which will also include the territory of the new Baku International Sea Trade Port.

This document on establishment of the FTZ type special economic area in the Alat settlement of Baku’s Garadagh district represents a milestone of Azerbaijan's policy to strengthen the country's position as a regional logistics and transportation hub.

Once established, the FTZ will bring huge revenues to Azerbaijan's state budget. The profitability of FTZ has many examples in the world; FTZ in Hong Kong or in Dubai turned both cities into a center of attraction for investors from all around the world, and paved the way for inflow of huge funds to the countries.

The establishment of FTZ will also bring a large amount of foreign investment into Azerbaijan, as well as open the country's doors to new investors. This free trade zone is expected to attract up to $1 billion just in the first few years.

This will become possible thanks to the special tax and customs policy, which will be pursued in the territory of the FTZ. The privileges can cover the income tax, VAT, tax of profit and property tax.

Azerbaijan is also building a new state-of-the-art port complex. Located at the strategic crossroads of Europe and Asia and near sizeable markets like China, Turkey, Iran and Russia, the new Port of Baku is poised to become the leading trade and logistics hub of Eurasia.

Earlier, Baku International Sea Trade Port and Singapore’s SMRT International and Ectivise Solutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding on technical cooperation, aimed at enhancing the operational effectiveness of the Baku Port.

The two Singapore-based companies will provide support to Azerbaijan in its efforts to introduce new technologies and innovative solutions in the port and free trade zone operations.

Thus, Singapore will advise Baku in adoption of such technologies as Group Rapid Transit (GRT) System, Integrated Operation Control Centre (OCC), Auto Warehousing Storage and Retrieval System and other security systems.

Thanks to this cooperation the Baku International Sea Trade Port will be the first in the region to introduce driverless transportation – smart cars.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/150262.html

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