The first stage of the Alat Free Economic Zone on the Caspian Sea littoral territory of Azerbaijan opened last week, with President Ilham Aliyev attending the launch ceremony.
President Aliyev inspected the completed infrastructure projects within the largest economic zone on the Caspian Sea shores, located 65 kilometers south of Baku.
The first stage of the Alat Free Economic Zone spans 60 hectares of Alat settlement. The major project is a cutting-edge business center, which will include offices of the economic zone authorities, a single-window services centre, as well as offices for investors and customs employees, reports President.Az.
The single-window center will issue licenses, visas, and other official documents to the residents of the economic zone.
The residents of the free economic zone benefit from a wide range of fiscal and non-fiscal privileges, including tax and customs duty exemptions, no restrictions on property ownership, no requirement for a local partner, full protection of intellectual property and more.
No nationalization, confiscation measures, or any other restriction on private property may be applied to the free zone legal entities that operate legally.
Investors, shareholders, free zone residents, and legal entities, alongside their employees, can invest in the free zone and transfer funds from their activities abroad without restrictions. They also have the right to work and conduct transactions in any foreign currency of their choice.
There are no restrictions on 100 percent ownership of companies’ authorized capital and investments in the free zone by foreign legal entities and individuals.
The upcoming package of projects, which will expand the first stage of the Alat Free Economic Zone, provides for readying 297,000 square meters of land for lease to investors.
The decision to establish the Alat Free Economic Zone was adopted in 2017, and the relevant law was sanctioned in 2018. Despite the great economic and financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic across the globe, the foundation of the ultra-modern economic zone was laid with the participation of President Aliyev on July 1, 2021.
The ground will soon be broken for the next development stages on 138 hectares and 211 hectares of territories within the economic zone, which will home production and logistics centres, as well as heavy industry clusters.
Favorable conditions created in the 850-hectare Alat Free Economic Zone with its strategic geographic position near the Baku International Sea Trade Port and on global transport corridors, including the East-West and North-South International Transport Corridors are expected to make one of the pillars of the Azerbaijani government’s plans to establish a more sustainable, export-oriented and competitive national economy.
Moreover, a rare legislative base, fiscal and non-fiscal privileges package, industrial clusters equipped with necessary infrastructure and engineering-communication systems, transport-logistics centers, and other prospects will attract more investors from the entire region turning the Alat Free Economic Zone into a regional investment hub.
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