Putin offers status of free port for Far Eastern Vladivostok

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested on Thursday that the status of a free port be granted to the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok. In his state of the nation address, the president said it was necessary to pay an increased attention to the so-called territories of faster growth. He said this regime should be extended also to “new projects, in particular to some single-industry cities where the situation is especially difficult”. “I also suggest not waiting for three years, as the bill approved by the State Duma lower house under the first reading envisages, but instead making amendments to it to get down to work already now,” the president said. He said the Far East had a special place in these plans, and asked the government to make additional investment in the fund for the development of the Far East, in particular through taxes on new enterprises in the region. “Simultaneously, Vladivostok could receive the status of a free port with an attractive, concessional regime, as this has already been done for Sevastopol as well as for other ports in Crimea,” the president said. Read more