BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5. During the 2.5 years of the rule of the current government of Iran (the current government in Iran has been in power since August 2021), investments (foreign and domestic) in the country's free trade zones have increased 2.5 times compared to the previous period, advisor to the Iranian president and secretary of the Supreme Council of Free Trade Zones of Iran, Hojatollah Abdolmaleki said, Trend reports.
According to Abdolmaleki, domestic investments worth 1.6 quadrillion rials (about $38.1 billion) and foreign investments worth 300 million euros were made in the country's free trade zones during the mentioned period.
He added that this indicates the growing interest in Iran's free trade zones. Production of products in various fields in Iran is cheap. But it is much cheaper in free trade zones.
Abdolmaleki informed that 2.4 million projects worth $19.5 billion were prepared by free trade zones in 10 months of the current Iranian year (from March 21, 2023 through January 20, 2024). The Supreme Council of Iran's free trade zones approved 1,868 projects worth about $10.3 billion. At $2.5 billion, work has started on 1,522 projects.
To note, there are 18 free trade zones and 48 special economic zones in Iran. It is planned to increase the number of special economic zones to 79.