VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. An unprecedented set of benefits and incentives for businesses will be created in the Kuril Islands, including exemption from key income and property taxes, land and transport taxes for 10 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"We need to create a competitive environment for our partners to work here. This means that the parameters of the tax burden, the cost of borrowed capital, the speed, and the quality of public services for business should be globally competitive. The best, not better, and the best in the entire Asia-Pacific region," he said.

According to him, this is an extremely difficult task, but it must be achieved. "It is this, in fact, an unprecedented set of benefits and incentives that we will create in the Kuril Islands, for example, where we will completely exempt businesses from paying key taxes on profits, property, land, and transport taxes. For 10 years," Putin said.

He stressed that he was talking about companies that do not just register in the Kuril Islands, but actually work in the region, construct buildings, enterprises, and hire employees. "For such companies, lower insurance premiums will be established at a rate of 7.6%, also for 10 years. In addition, a free customs zone will operate throughout the Kuril Islands, that is, it will be easier and more convenient to import goods, equipment, and export finished products," he added.

According to Putin, VAT will not be levied within this zone, "until the goods leave the territory of the Kuril Islands."

The president noted that the regime will not apply to all types of activities. "The exceptions will include the work of intermediaries, manufacturing excisable goods, extraction and processing of hydrocarbons, as well as catching valuable aquatic biological resources," he added.