Geographically, Maku Free Zone encompasses Maku, Showt, Poldasht and Bazargan border city, which is located in the northwestern tip of the country and occupies about 75% of the country’s free zones. This zone is located next to Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan Autonomous). Border length of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this zone is 140 km and 130 km with the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey, respectively. In terms of country divisions, Maku Free Zone with an area of 3860 square kilometers encompasses 3 counties, 6 cities, 6 districts, 13 rural district and 261 inhabited villages. According to the general population and housing census of 2016, the population of the region was 192,603 people, which is 0.24% of the total population of the country and 5.9% of the total population of West Azerbaijan province.
Maku Free Trade-Industrial Zone, in addition to bordering Turkey and Nakhchivan, is adjacent to Armenia and the Caucasus region, and is the bottleneck of the North-South land corridor (on land rival of the Suez Canal) and the junction point of Asia and Europe. Considering the importance of the Caucasus’s strategic transportation for Iran, major trade and political exchanges between Iran and Europe are in through this path. The short distance of Maku Free Zone from the ports of Mersin in the Mediterranean Sea and Trabzon in the Black Sea is a significant advantage in accessing European markets through land and sea, compared to the southern ports in the Persian Gulf. Regarding distance and economical expenses, there is no doubt that this region is the most economical bottleneck on land in comparison to the east-west sea route.
