Crimea’s authorities want special economic zone for 25 to 50 years

A special economic zone in Crimea should be established for a term of from 25 to 50 years, Crimea’s acting head Sergei Aksyonov said in an article published in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily on Wednesday.
According to Aksyonov, the Crimean special economic zone will offer considerable privileges: a reduced profit and value added taxes, zero import value added tax in the spheres of tourism, agriculture, industry, and construction.
“Today, debates are about terms of this special economic zone. There are different viewpoints: five, ten and 25 years. We would like to have this status for at least 25 years. And maybe, up to 50 — to give businesses a long-term perspective,” he said.
Crimean experts, according to Aksyonov, suggest an investment agency be set up in Crimea to deal with issues of attracting investors and backing investment projects. It might also be responsible for the organization of regular Black Sea economic forums.
He said Crimea’s authorities were looking at creating a kind of a Crimean Silicon Valley in the territory of the peninsula. “I am sure we must look at a possible establishment of a sort of Silicon Valley that would host advanced communications and microelectronics facilities, and a Crimean technology park… For these ends, it would be expedient to consider setting up a Crimean branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Touching on the situation in the tourism sphere, he noted that according to preliminary statistics, Crime had welcomed about three million vacationers from Russia and Ukraine in 2013. He also said that the authorities planned to focus on the modernization of ports and airports in Sevastopol and Kerch. “I hope these measures will help us increase passenger and freight turnover in 2015 and to make Crimea more easily accessible for tourists arriving here hy ground transport and by shios,” he said.