Free Economic Zones (FEZ) are the most important destinations for foreign investment projects due to their favorable location, infrastructure, facilities, incentives, labor force, services, security and comfort to develop production process.
Creation of free economic zones in Azerbaijan contributes to the creation of new jobs in the country, Juan Torrents, President of the World Free & Special Economic Zones Federation (FEMOZA), told Trend.
In his words, this helps attract foreign investors and develop the country’s economy.
He pointed to the importance of the correct location of a FEZ for easy communication with ports, airports, and access to other countries.
Torrents praised the favorable location of the FEZ in the village of Alat in the Garadagh district of Baku.
Earlier, he said that Azerbaijan is in the route of FEMOZA’s Digital Silk Road Parks, which envisages a network of free economic zones in Asia and Europe on the millennia-old route of the original Silk Road.
Azerbaijan is keen to further leverage its transit and logistics potential by transforming the transportation system and services into one of the key advantages of its economy.
The FEZ is being created in the village of Alat on the basis of the presidential decree signed in March 2016. The territory of the new Baku International Sea Trade Port is also included in this zone.
The Baku International Sea Trade Port in Azerbaijan’s Alat settlement is expected to become one of the leading trade and logistics hubs of Eurasia.
The port in Alat is a transportation hub linking the west (Turkey & EU), south (Iran & India) and north (Russia). In addition, the port’s location is linked to existing highways and railways, connecting the port to the inland regions of the country.
The new Port of Baku is located on an area of 400 hectares (ha) of land, of which about 100-115 ha cover the area for the development of international logistics and FEZ. The northern areas around the port are reserved for future expansion of logistics, industrial, and manufacturing activity.
The FEZ is expected to bring up to $1 billion just in the first few years. Special tax and customs policy, which will be pursued in the territory of the free trade zone, will also stipulate further development and simplification of a number of procedures.
Since the new port is being built at the major railway juncture connecting the North-South and the East-West railway lines in Azerbaijan, FEZ will also have rail access. Serving as a multimodal transit logistics hub, the new port and FEZ will become a major consolidation and distribution centre in Central Eurasia that provides a wide range of value added services.
