Vladivostok will receive free port status in 2016

VLADIVOSTOK, March 17. /TASS/. The free port regime will be introduced in the Russian Far East in 2016, Primorsky Krai Governor Sergey Nekhaev said on Tuesday. The main focus will be on developing logistics, ship repair and bunkering, along with manufacturing, export-oriented and import-substituting industries, and agriculture, Nekhaev said. The corresponding draft law will pass through the parliament until the end of the year and be later signed by the president, the governor said. "This will provide an opportunity to start implementing it [the law] already in 2016," he added. Along with adopting the draft law on free port in Vladivostok, the authorities will have to make amendments to more than 20 federal laws. The law envisages easing customs procedures and terms of stay for foreigners on the territory of a free port. The status of a free port gives a right to import and export certain goods without customs. The free port regime was earlier introduced for Sevastopol and other ports in Crimea. Read more