Officials say FTZ models will be applied to other sectors

2018-05-25
cgtn.com

China is stepping up its efforts to maintain its commitment to further opening-up its economy to the world. And one prime example of that is the country’s free trade zones. They’re on track to meet reform goals to make their business environment more fair and accessible to potential investors.

China currently has a total of 12 pilot free trade zones, with the country’s southern island of Hainan being the latest addition.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, these regions also have their own main industries and infrastructure advantages, and are constantly exploring new methods to increase trade and cross-broader cooperation.

Ren Hongbin, assistant commerce minister, said, “Guangdong’s pilot free trade zone will focus on maritime statistics, financing and trade. We have proposed 18 measures to better liberalize trade services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Area. In Tianjin, our aim is to advance mechanisms to make it an incubating area for new tech developments, and as for Fujian, also a key area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the focus will be to improve administrative governance, and deepen cross-Straits economic cooperation with Taiwan by increasing the transparency and standardization of government services.”

Ren added that 27 models that have helped facilitate trade and investment in the country’s FTZs will now be applied to multiple sectors of the Chinese economy, a move likely to attract investment from around the world.