SIMFEROPOL: The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on Monday that Moscow will make Crimea a special economic zone with tax breaks to attract investors.
“We made a decision to make Crimea a special economic zone,” Medvedev announced at a government session in Crimea’s capital Simferopol on Monday.
“Today the state duma began reviewing this legislation,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev said that companies that make investments with the authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol could be given tax breaks.
“We have to ensure swindlers don’t take advantage of this state in transition,” he said. “It is our purpose to make the peninsula as attractive as possible for investment.”
The prime minister described the development of Crimea as a national priority and compared the importance of the region to that of the Far East.
Earlier in the day, the Russian prime minister arrived in Simferopol, making him the first senior Russian official to visit the region after its rejoining Russia.
Medvedev was accompanied by a delegation of Russian ministers and deputy prime ministers.
On March 21, the Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law documents that officially made Crimea part of the Russian territory. Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of the voters in Crimea said yes to reunion with Russia.
