MINSK, 8 January (BelTA) – The China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone has been granted the status of a territorial special economic zone. The measure is stipulated by presidential decree No.490 of 22 December 2018, which came into force on 8 January, BelTA learned from the Economy Ministry website.
The status gives companies residing in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone the maximum possible volume of customs advantages and simplifications in the area of logistics and manufacturing that the Eurasian Economic Union Customs Code provides for.
In line with the Eurasian Economic Union Customs Code the member states can set up territorial special economic zones: three in Russia, two in Belarus, one in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan each.
Thus, the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone is the first territorial special economic zone out of the two zones Belarus can have. The new status has made the park even more attractive for doing business.
Thanks to the new status not only commercial companies residing in the park will be able to enjoy preferences. Administration bodies will be able to do so, too. It will be possible to submit customs declarations up to two months after commodities are imported into the special economic zone. It will allow reducing the time required to use the goods as part of business processes.
Apart from simpler procedures resident companies will be able to set up clusters: one customs control zone will allow other residents to operate inside it without having to create separate customs zones. The approach has not been used in any existing free (special) economic zones in Belarus up till now.
Apart from that, residents of the industrial park will be able to rely on the principle of extraterritoriality and set up various technological chains and establish corporate ties not only inside the special economic zone but outside as well. To enable the possibility, the Eurasian Economic Union Customs Code allows moving foreign products, which have been submitted to the free customs zone procedure, from the territory of the special economic zone into the remaining territory of the Eurasian Economic Union for the sake of one's own manufacturing and technological needs and for completing individual operations for processing products without completing such a procedure.
The interest of investors from various countries in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone has noticeably increased recently. In 2018 the number of registered resident companies nearly doubled – going up from 22 to 41 companies. The volume of investments to be poured into their projects is expected to exceed $1 billion.
