Alat economic zone is expected to boost the country’s emerging role as region’s emerging economic and trade hub
Azerbaijan has opened a free economic zone in its Alat settlement on the Caspian coast near capital Baku. The hub has been opned amidst the emerging economic and trade hub in Alat.
The law to to set up free zone was passed by the Parliament in 2018 to promote business practices, as well as investment and development activities around the Alat settlement.
Attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Alat Free Economic Zone on July 1, President Ilham Aliyev said that it will help boost Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector and that the infrastructure to be created in the economic zone, will attract investors.
He sited the vast majority of unsuitable lands for agriculture in the area, Alat settlement’s closeness to Baku, the presence of a 300-megawatt power plant in Sangachal, the location of the International Trade Seaport in the aforesaid area as key factors for choosing Alat as the venue of the economic zone.
Aliyev signed the decree to accelerate the establishment of Alat Free Economic Zone in 2017.
Speaking about investment opportunities in Azerbaijan, the president reminded that Azerbaijan ranks 28th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business report. He also reminded that Azerbaijan ranked second in the Davos Forum’s report for electricity supply and shares 24th and 27th places for the quality of roads, while the country’s Caspian Shipping Company is ranked 25th for the quality of shipping services.
