The ranking is prepared by the Association of Clusters and Technology Parks of Russia in co-operation with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. In 2020, it included 16 SEZs from 12 regions. To rate them, experts used a list of 26 criteria, including investment attractiveness and information transparency.
There are 170 residents in the Dubna SEZ – more than 20 percent of all SEZ residents in Russia. According to the chief executive of Dubna Special Economic Zone, Anton Afanasiev, it has a favourable economic and geographical position and fully prepared infrastructure, including customs. Its residents enjoy favourable land use conditions and receive comprehensive administrative, information and financial support, which helps reduce the investment phase, costs and speed up the start of commercial production.
Tax revenues of Dubna SEZ residents greatly exceeded the amount of benefits over the period. It has generated 4,400 new jobs and Dubna increased its contributions to budgets at all levels even during the pandemic: more than 2 billion roubles ($27 million) in the third quarter.
“Dubna is a strategically important science city for the Moscow Region and our country. It is particularly valuable to see science introduced into the economy. We have created a special economic zone in Dubna for this purpose. Innovative enterprises form taxes and jobs for our residents, and unique specialists also come here. In turn, we are trying to create comfortable conditions and a decent quality of life for them," Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobiev said.
Special economic zones are areas with a special business regime (including a free customs zone procedure), determined by the Russian government. The territories of SEZs host production facilities of some 830 residents, which provide more than 42,000 jobs for specialists in various industries. The total amount of private investment made by residents is 497 billion roubles ($6.77 billion). Some 146 residents with foreign capital (from over 33 countries) have invested more than 243 billion roubles ($3.31) in their production facilities at SEZs.