Over 200 Companies Enjoy Tax Privileges In Russian Arctic - Development Minister

Muhammad Irfan Published October 15, 2021 | 08:36 PM

More than 200 companies have acquired the resident status in the so-called Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) program giving them tax and administrative privileges, Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, said on Friday

ST. PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2021) More than 200 companies have acquired the resident status in the so-called Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) program giving them tax and administrative privileges, Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, said on Friday.

"Today, the world's largest economic zone with a total area of 5 million square kilometers (1.9 million square miles) has been created in the Arctic. More than 200 companies that are implementing projects worth 277 billion rubles ($3.9 billion) in the Arctic have become its residents," Chekunkov said in a welcoming speech at the Third Eurasian Women's Forum.

About 20% of these companies are headed by women, the minister said.

"In percentage terms, the number of women who decided to create a new business in the Arctic with the support of the state even exceeds the female share in the first Arctic expeditions," he said.

The Russian government uses previous experience of business development in the Far East to develop a bundle of support measures for the new companies coming to the region, the minister said.

"In total, using various mechanisms of state support in the Arctic, 287 projects are being implemented with a total volume of 1.1 trillion rubles," Chekunkov said.

In July 2020, President Vladimir Putin signed a package of laws introducing a special economic zone in the Russian Arctic. A commercial organization or an individual entrepreneur can become an AZRF resident if their total volume of implemented and planned capital investments is at least 1 million rubles ($14,000). The resident status provides a variety of customs and tax benefits, such as zero tax on profit for 10 tax periods once the resident turns a profit.