Plenipotentiary of the President of Russia notes the successful experience of SEZ in Tatarstan

In Tolyatti on November 6 held a meeting on implementation of the Action Plan ("roadmap") to improve the management of special economic zones (SEZ) in the Russian Federation. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak held it. "Road Map" was approved by the Government in July 2014 and involves improving the functioning of the SEZ.

In his speech, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich gave examples of the SEZ success in Tatarstan, Samara and Ulyanovsk regions. As it is known, Tatarstan is the only region of the Russian Federation on the territory of which there are 2 special economic zones - "Alabuga" and "Innopolis", being created Svizhyaskiy SEZ based on multimodal logistics center.

However, the Plenipotentiary Representative noted the presence of certain problematic issues in the management of special economic zones. In particular, there has not yet approved the development strategy of SEZ in the Russian Federation until 2020. The adoption of the document is planned before the end of this year, which, according to the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia, will remove a number of conceptual contradictions in the process of creating and managing of SEZ.

Amendments to the federal legislation provide the right of self-selection for regions: either to continue to cooperate with the management company of SC "SEZ" or to develop special economic zones of their own. At the same time the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President called for the transfer of powers to the regions, which will contribute to strengthening their role and responsibility for the implementation of investment projects, the search for new residents, the performance of the obligations assumed by the creation of infrastructure and the achievement of targets.

Mikhail Babich also pointed to the importance of active creation of domestic production in the SEZ. "It is important to provide incentives and evaluation system for the regions so they can be interested in the attracting to the special economic zones of domestic producers", he said. In addition, the presidential representative called to take into consideration specialization, taking into account the interests and needs of the regional economy when placing residents of SEZ.

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak, in turn, noted that the transfer of powers to the regions will allow for more efficient use of the potential of SEZ. "The decision to transfer authority and responsibility for management of special economic zones to the regional level adopted for the regions’ greater motivation to development", he said.

At the meeting were also presented the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexander Cybulski, he governors of Samara and Ulyanovsk regions Nikolai Merkushin and Sergei Morozov.

At the end of the event was made recommendations that will form the basis for further work to improve the management of special economic zones in the country.

For reference

Now in Volga Federal District there are four SEZ: industrial-production zone "Alabuga" in Tatarstan (45 residents, 5.5 thousand jobs, production volume reached 130 billion rubles per year), industrial-production zone "Tolyatti" in Samara Region (16 residents with total investment 5.3 billion rubles), port area "Ulyanovsk" (5 residents, the volume of investment in infrastructure is 2 billion rubles), technology development zone "Innopolis" in Tatarstan (the first in the modern history country's Science City under the construction with a population of 150 thousand people).

SEZ residents receive some tax and administrative preferences. In particular, the special economic zones have "zero" or lower taxes, comfortable administrative regime, ready infrastructure and free customs zone.