Juan Torrents: Main advantage of special economic zones of Kazakhstan is favorable geographic position of the country

The IV Congress of Special Economic Zone Participants of Kazakhstan was held in Astana, at which over 100 entrepreneurs, representatives of government bodies, deputies and members of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs gathered to discuss current issues and prospects for the development of the special economic zones in Kazakhstan.

Within the framework of the Congress, President of FEMOZA World Free & Special Economic Zones Federation Juan Torrents presented the project Digital Parks of the New Silk Road, where Kazakhstan is given the role of a strategic center in the development of electronic commerce. Memorandum of Cooperation with FEMOZA was signed by the management companies of the Aktau Sea Port, Pavlodar, Saryarka, Astana Technopolis zones.

Torrents believes that Kazakhstan has good prospects for the development of special economic zones.

"Kazakhstan is in a favorable geographical position. This is one of the main advantages of special economic zones of your country. It is necessary to use it more actively and, of course, it is necessary to work actively in the electronic commerce zone, blockchain and other new technologies," Torrents said.

Head of SEZ Department of the Investment Committee of the Ministry for Investments and Development Arsen Mendygaziev reported on positive results in the work of the special economic zones. According to him, about 170 projects have been launched in 11 zones. More than 800 billion tenge were attracted in the form of taxes. About 130 billion tenge of contributions were paid to the budget.

"This suggests that there is a positive impact from special economic zones. In the future we will hope that it will grow," Mendygaziev said.

In his urn, Deputy Chairman of Atameken NCE Kuanysh Bishimov noted that the economic zones are not only drivers of the economy, but also locomotives for the development of entrepreneurship.

"The main task of the economic zones was to become the best examples of new technologies and factories. The state provided a lot of support for this. Today we have 11 economic zones in the country, about 14.5 thousand jobs were created. For us, as a chamber, it is very important that we state the fact that a large number of representatives of small and medium-sized businesses are concentrated near special economic zones," Bishimov said.

Also, such issues as the application of value added tax benefits, simplification of customs procedures, the feasibility of certain types of benefits for participants of the economic zones and many others were discussed at the Congress.

Representatives of Atameken NCE, the Institute of Economic Research, President of the Khorgos International Centre of Boundary Cooperation JSC, heads of Astana Technopolis, Aktau Sea Port, Pavlodar zones and many others made speeches.

Recall, the Head of State instructed to analyze the efficiency of the 11 special economic zones at the extended meeting of the Government.

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