Cayman Islands Plan Special Economic Zones

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

28 January 2011

The Cayman Islands government has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a free zone which is expected to offer attractive terms to those looking to make tax-efficient technology-based investments in the Caribbean and Americas region.

The agreement permits the creation of what has been dubbed as an enterprise city, with the contractor, Hon Cayman Property Limited expected to invest more than USD500m over ten years.

Once the plans are approved by the Cabinet in March, construction will commence at the beginning of 2012, providing 5,000 new jobs and local high-level training.

The government has accepted plans for the 300-acre zone to be partitioned into six specialized campuses, namely: the Cayman Internet Park; the CayBiotech, a Biotechnology & Research Park; the Cayman Media Park; the Cayman Global Commodities Centre, which aims to centralize the global commodity market in Caymans; the Cayman International Academic Park a special economic zone dedicated to higher education; and the the Cayman Outsource Park.

Details of the tax treatment of entities establishing operations within the zone are expected to be forthcoming shortly.

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