The authorities of Bashkiria are planning to create a special administrative district (SAD) in the republic using Islamic financing mechanisms. This was reported on Monday on the website of Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov following his meeting with President of the Center for Strategic Research Vladislav Onishchenko.
"We see a reliable partner in you. There is a regional Center for strategic research in Bashkortostan. With the CSR, we are also planning to create a special administrative district in Bashkortostan," Khabirov's words are quoted in the report.
According to him, this "preferential territory is actually a national model of offshore jurisdiction."
"In addition to attracting new foreign investors, it focuses on returning companies created by entrepreneurs abroad to the Russian legal framework. We propose to use the principles of Islamic law as a special feature of this administrative district created in Bashkortostan, and, accordingly, focus on the implementation of projects using Islamic financing instruments. It will allow to create favorable economic conditions for attracting investments, to form a legal and expert infrastructure necessary for the structuring and execution of transactions based on Islamic law," the press service of Bashkortostan Prime Minister Andrei Nazarov was quoted as saying.
The authorities of Bashkiria discussed the creation of the SAD with representatives of Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkey and the embassies of Bahrain, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in September and submitted the legislative initiative to the Russian State Duma and also sent it to the Russian government for consideration.
Bashkortostan maintains trade and economic relations with 128 countries of the world and the volume of the republic's foreign trade last year exceeded $4.6B. Bashkortostan also has active economic relations with Islamic countries. Trade turnover with Islamic countries is increasing every year and by the end of 2021 it amounted to $352 million. If this figure is compared with the pre-crisis year of 2019, the share of exports with Muslim countries has more than doubled.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Lesnoy Volk/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS