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Although a considerable amount of work has already been done on organising special economic zones, a number of questions and unsettled problems remain, President Vladimir Putin said at a Meeting on the development of special economic zones in Russia.

The President noted in particular the problem of numerous state control procedures, although part of the purpose of setting up special economic zones was to enable administrative issues to be settled swiftly and without red tape.

The lack of general rules also makes it possible for customs authorities to set their own rules and timeframes for issuing permits in each specific case.

Foreign companies make up 80 percent of the bids from potential residents of the special economic zones. Mr Putin expressed the concern that this could have a negative impact on the competitiveness of Russian companies.