TEHRAN, February 22 (MNA) – Aras Free Zones (AFZ) in the north of Iran has played an outstanding role in flourishing Iran's economy.Aras Free Trade - Industrial Zone is located in the Northwest of Iran at the border point with neighboring Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan and has established very good relations and interactions with these Eurasian countries.
Aras Free Zone is home to more than 200 active industrial and production units which play a leading role in spurring the economy of the free zones of the country in particular.
Suitable opportunities have been paved for producing agricultural and horticultural products in the zone, most of its products are presently exported to the Russian Federation.
In addition, Aras Free Zone has also heavily invested in producing clear energy like solar energy.
This area was expanded on December 4, 2008 to 51,000 hectares based on the new decree of Board of Ministers, including some parts of Jolfa and Kaleybar towns.
This approved area in the attached part has increased the main district from 9,700 hectares to 20,500 hectares, and in three detached parts makes up totally 51,000 hectares of entire Aras Free Zone including a part of Kaleybar city with the area of 24,000 hectares (called Gholi Beig Lou) and the vicinity of Khodafarin Dam with the area of 6,100 hectares as well as the district of Norduz Customs (Iran-Armenia border) with the area of 240 hectares.
To learn more about the details, we have reached out to Deputy CEO of Aras Free Zone for Economic Development and Investment Affairs Ebrahim Jalili which comes as follows.
To begin with his speech, he stated that Aras Free Zone is home to more than 200 industrial and production units.
Suitable opportunities have been paved for producing agricultural and horticultural products, most of its products are presently exported to the Russian Federation.
In addition, Aras Free Zone has also invested in producing clear energy like solar energy.
From the north, it ends up to the Aras River, Republics of Nakhchivan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
This Township covers the area of 1670.31 square kilometers and it neighbors Kaleybar Township to the east, and Marand and Ahar to the south.
On average, the width of Jolfa Township is 17 kilometers and its length is 100 kilometers.
Jolfa City is the capital of the Township and it is located 135 kilometers to the northwest of Tabriz and 65 kilometers to the north of Marand.
Jolfa is among the smallest cities of the province covering 1670.31 square kilometers which is only 3.4 of the total area of the province and it is ranked twelfth in this regard.
In terms of political divisions, Jolfa Township is composed of two districts, namely Central District and Siyah Rood, and five rural districts: West Dizmar, Nojeh Mehr, Arasi, Daran, and Shoja.
According to the statistics of 2004, there are 73,219 villages in Jolfa Township.
Based on the resolution 530820 T/20708 dated June 28, 2005, passed by the Iranian Cabinet, Aras Free Zone covered some 9,700 hectares of lands.
However, according to another resolution adopted on December 4, 2008, by the respectable Cabinet, the borders of this Zone was expanded to cover some 51,000 hectares including parts of two counties namely Jolfa and Khoda Afarin.
Investment Competitive Advantages Ø Human resources (expert and cheap work force) Ø Cheap energy Ø Investment security Ø Cheap warehousing Ø Land Ø Exemption from customs duties and commercial interests for importing raw materials and machineries Ø Exemption from customs fees and commercial interests for the import of goods produced in the Zone to other parts of Iran based on the Value- Added Act.
Customs Advantages for Investment Ø Reducing commercial interest up to 15% of CIF value of the commodities which are imported to the mainland through trade- industrial free zones Ø Increasing the amount of imported commodities to free zones up to $3,000,000,000 Ø Minimum time needed for evaluation and discharging formalities Ø Possibility of importing commodities through foreign, domestic transit, TIR Carnet, etc.
Ø Possibility of transferring goods by train and being connected to overseas lines.
Ø Accepting warranty for discharging commodities from the Zone.
Ø Separating bills for discharge warehouse (absolute discharge, transit, export, etc.
Ø Entering agreement with commodity owners for the import and export of the commodities of the production unit within the Zone.
Ø Issuing a negotiable warehouse bill on demand of commodity owners.
Ø Stop services for the available commodities in the customs of Free Zone two times higher than the expected time for the customs of the mainland.
The stop services time for the produced commodities is infinite.
Legal Advantages for Investment Ø Making use of advantages contained in the Value Added Act.
Ø 20-year tax exemption for various economic activities since the operating date.
Ø Exemption from customs fees and commercial interests for the import of raw materials and machineries.
Ø Exporting the produced commodities to abroad with the minimum formalities.
Ø Freedom for importing any goods except for the ones inconsistence with the Islamic laws.
Ø Guaranteeing the capital of the foreign investors against nationalization and expropriation.
Ø Foreign investors' complete free hands for any economic activities.
Ø Company registration by Aras Free Trade and Industrial Zone Organization.
Ø The possibility of 100% foreign investment without Iranian partnership Ø Visa-free entrance.
Ø The possibility of using foreign experts.
Ø Issuing employment license for aliens by Aras Free Trade and Industrial Zone Organization..
Infrastructures at Aras Free Zone Railway network The railway of Jolfa-Tabriz is the first and the only electric railway of Iran constructed 100 years ago connecting Aras Free Zone to Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia, the Black Sea, Turkey and Europe from the north, the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea from the south, and CIS countries from the East.
Jolfa-Tabriz Road network links the city's entrance and exit points through Jolfa-Nordooz and Khoda Afrin with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Aras Airport is under the construction in Aras Free Zone,120 kilometers away from Tabriz Airport and 35 kilometers away from Nakhchivan Airport.
Energy Energy sources including oil and gas are sufficiently available in the region at present and the construction of a 500-MW power plant is executed by the private sector.
This power plant would be the main supplier of energy for the Zone in the future.
Telecommunication Telecommunication infrastructures and communicating facilities have completely been set up in the Zone.
The necessary branchements have been provided in line with the current needs and they are ready to be given to the applicants for making use in planning for the construction of data center ICD of the Zone, supporting private sector investors in areas of SAP,PAP, and PSTN given that legal limitations of the mainland are not practiced here, establishing and expanding ICT in the Zone due to the relative advantage of Aras Free Zone in having access to national communication infrastructures and its located on the way of eastern and western international fiber optic network from China to Europe and planning to transform the Zone into a pilot case study for the national projects of ICT in line with realization of an electronic zone.
