First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that a free economic zone in the Kaliningrad region proved itself efficient, Itar-Tass reports.
“Two years ago the Russian president signed the law on creating a free economic zone in the Kaliningrad region, for this period of time 48 residents were registered there, capital investments exceeded ten billion roubles, a total of expected investments should exceed 27 billion roubles,” Medvedev said at a meeting on the development of the agrarian and industrial sector on Thursday.
On January 10, 2006, Putin signed the federal law on a free economic zone in the Kaliningrad region.
The first deputy prime minister recalled that a possible establishment of a free economic zone was fiercely debated. “The chosen model works and will yield new results,” Medvedev said. The first vice-premier believes that the Kaliningrad free economic zone will contribute to the fulfillment “of the major strategic goal – to turn the Kaliningrad region into a flourishing region deeply integrated in the all-Russian economic and cultural space, and the region will actively develop cooperation with the European Union.”