List of Far Eastern ports having free status to be approved before spring - Deputy Minister of Far East Development

MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The list of Far Eastern ports having the status of free port currently enjoyed by Vladivostok will be approved in January - February 2016, Deputy Minister of Far East Development Sergei Kachaev told TASS on Monday. "The draft law is already in the State Duma. We already have understanding of the long list of such territories [ports that may receive the free status - TASS] and therefore we did not stage any special tender or selection. If everything is fine, the relevant decision will be made sometime in January - February," the official said. International ports, such as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Nevelsk, Kholmsk, Korsakov, Vanino, and Sovetskaya Gavan may claim the free port status in the first instance, Kachaev said. "These are ports having the competitive advantage on the international scale and it should be strengthened. However, this does not mean that other ports with the regional role… may not claim this status," the deputy minister said. The free port status will be extended after Vladivostok to Kamchatka, Khabarovsk and Sakhalin Regions, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev said earlier. Read more