On March 1, 1997, the Liepaja Special Economic Zone (Liepaja SEZ) was established, which was created thanks to the initiative of Liepaja entrepreneurs. The Liepaja SEZ is a support tool for entrepreneurs, whose goal was to attract foreign and domestic entrepreneurs to build their production facilities in Liepaja, build port terminals and, above all, create new jobs. Liepaja SEZ General Manager Janis Lapins emphasized that the main task of the Liepaja SEZ in the future is to create the preconditions for entrepreneurs to be interesting to work and develop their companies in Liepaja. "It is an ongoing process, continuous interaction, dialogue and development, taking care of the business environment, in order to support companies that provide skilled and well-paid jobs."

On March 17, 2017, the Liepaja SEZ celebrated its anniversary with an international conference, the purpose and task of which was to evaluate accomplishments, but the main reason was to look for new opportunities and challenges in order to work more efficiently and create the preconditions for existing companies to grow and create new ones, creating new, qualified and well-paid jobs. As Edward Lucas, Senior Editor of The Economist, emphasized at the conference: "It seems to me that special economic zones are crucial for starting a business, especially when an entrepreneur enters a foreign environment. In addition, for manufacturing, logistics and transport industries free economic zones have played an important role. I personally visited Liepaja for the first time in 1990. The changes that I see right now are enormous. It is a fantastic progress in these twenty-seven years. Good reason to be proud of yourself. "

In 2017, the Liepaja SEZ Authority evaluated the accomplished and prepared the Development Plan for 2018-2035. The document analyzes the current situation and conditions that could influence future development by setting priorities:

The document also analyzes the current state of the environment in the territory of the LSEZ and the possible impact of the implementation of the planning document on the quality of the environment.

In 2017, 5 LSEZ commercial companies were registered – LSEZ Ltd. “Baltic Solar Factory”, LSEZ Ltd. V.Biluks commercial company "EVIJA", LSEZ Ltd. "Buckwheat Baltics", LSEZ Ltd. "JM Properties", LSEZ Ltd. "Swedan Partners". Although more than 10 new manufacturing companies have started projects, the construction of 2 new factories – LSEZ Ltd. "Trelleborg Wheel Systems Liepaja" (in Kapsedes Street) and LSEZ Ltd. "EURO DK" (in Satiksmes Street) - have actually started.

In total, in 2017, 50 investment contracts totaling 31.6 million euros, 6 real estate lease agreements (18.5 hectares) and 13 real estate reservation lease agreements (19.6 hectares), were concluded, enabling entrepreneurs to study the situation, conditions and start new manufacturing companies.

In November 2017, the Port of Liepaja reached the largest amount of cargo handled in one month - 810 481.52 tons, strengthening the position of the Port of Liepaja as the main grain harbor in the Baltic Sea region. “It was possible due to two reasons – because at the beginning of the year, together with entrepreneurs of the Port of Liepaja and with Latvian Railway, we made significant changes in the planning and organizing process of wagon manoeuvres, which significantly increased capacity and also because of 3 new warehouses and modernisation process of already existing warehouses, capacity of dry bulk storage increased by 10% and opportunities for storage of new cargo types arised,” emhasized by Uldis Hmielevskis, Deputy CEO of the LSEZ. Cereals have been the largest cargo group in the Port of Liepaja for a long time. In order to continue cargo attraction, in 2017, 3 new warehouses were built in the Port of Liepaja and the total grain storage capacity increased by 10%. The growth of cargo turnover required a very thorough and efficient work organization from the side of entrepreneurs, Liepaja SEZ Authority and SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš". By improving the possibilities of maneuvering railway wagons, the capacity of railway wagons was increased from 180 wagons per day to 275 wagons.

In the summer of 2017, a new pilot vessel was launched at the port, which is a reliable assistant to the pilot, when leading in and leading out vessels from the Port of Liepaja. The new pilot vessel for approximately 1 million EUR was specially built for the needs of the Port of Liepaja and it was done by “Baltic Workboats”, an Estonian company. It is equipped with a powerful engine, modern navigation equipment, with good maneuverability and additional equipment, which will improve the ability of the pilot to successfully descend and board from the vessel. The speed of the new pilot vessel shows its relatively small size - if the existing ships have a total mass of 80 tons, then the new one - only 14 tons. The acquisition of a new vessel was more economically viable than repairing the old ones, emphasizes Liepaja SEZ General Manager Janis Lapins, justifying the decision to buy a completely new pilot vessel for the daily operations in the Port of Liepaja. After the restoration of the port's operation, this is the first completely new vessel purchased by the Liepaja SEZ Authority and in the future the Authority plans to continue the renewal of the ports` fleet.

In 2017, the Liepaja Special Economic Zone Authority started the implementation of 6 significant infrastructure development projects, attracting funding from the EU Structural Funds up to 80%:

In 2017, the Port of Liepaja had its 320th anniversary. According to historical evidence, on October 3, 1697, the first pile was launched and the construction of the Port of Liepaja was started. On March 24, at the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, the restored Liepaja port warehouse "Bezdelīga" was opened, which was also built in 1697, and as the Deputy Manager of the Liepaja SEZ Uldis Hmielevskis emphasized during its opening, the rebirth of the Liepaja port warehouse "Bezdelīga" is experiencing on its 320th birthday year. "It is a great present for the jubilee of the Port of Liepaja and now it's safe to say that a small part of Liepaja and Liepaja port is also located in Riga."

Marking the 320th anniversary of the Port of Liepaja and the 20th of the Liepaja SEZ, the Liepaja SEZ Authority published an album about the history of the Port of Liepaja and Liepaja SEZ, while the Liepaja Museum will have an exhibition about the history of the port and SEZ until June 2018. The anniversary year of the Liepaja SEZ Authority was concluded with the release of Maris Rungulis, Liepaja's stories "To the eels" in CD format, which will also be given to the city's schools.