Gov?t to push ahead with SEZ
The government is determined to move ahead with the creation of at least one so-called Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Greece despite opposition expressed by a number of countries and also by the International Monetary Fund recently.
The Development Ministry?s general secretary for strategic and private investments, Petros Selekos, told a conference on Tuesday that the SEZ will be created and go into operation immediately. Previous reports had associated plans for the zone with a special labor and tax status for the region of Thrace in northeastern Greece.
In an effort to counter opposition to the SEZ and to dispel fears that labor legislation would not apply in the zone, Selekos said that although the aim of the zone would be to reduce red tape, national ?particularities? would be taken into account.
?This means that we have only used the international standards that apply to special economic zones as the basis for our own scheme,? the government official stated.
