City’s free trade zone bigger and better
Print Edition
SHANGHAI’S free trade zone officially quadrupled in size yesterday with officials pledging to boost its role in catalyzing reform and opening up.
Covering an area of 120.72 square kilometers, the zone now comprises the Lujiazui financial hub, Jinqiao manufacturing zone, Zhangjiang high-tech base and the initial three bonded areas of Waigaoqiao, Yangshan and Pudong International Airport.
“The expansion allows experiments of reforms to be carried out under a complete government system. That will make the testing more crucial and valuable,” Sun Jiwei, acting deputy director of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration and governor of the Pudong New Area, told a news conference yesterday.
“These frontiers of Pudong’s development have strong industrial bases and prominent functions,” Sun said. “We will give better play to their advantages and promote industrial upgrading in a bid to inject fresh impetus to Shanghai’s building of financial, economic, trade and shipping centers.”
The expanded zone is managed by the zone’s administration and the Pudong government, with five regional committees responsible for sub-zones. Shanghai has also set up a city-level steering committee to plan the zone’s development as a whole.
“Shanghai FTZ is aiming to become a carrier for China to further integrate into the global economy and drive the building of “One Belt, One Road” and the development of the Yangtze River economic belt,” said Chen Yin, the steering committee’s director.
A total of 73,900 enterprises are based in the enlarged zone, with 22 percent of them foreign-funded, according to the zone administration.
Zhu Min, its deputy director, said the number of foreign investors in the zone was on the increase, with the monthly average of newly-established foreign-funded enterprises at 270 this year, compared to the previous 170.
“The zone was previously dominated by trade and logistic firms and the expansion greatly boosted the diversity of industries in the zone by bringing in companies of financial, advanced manufacturing and technology sectors,” Zhu said.
The next step is to implement 25 measures set out by the Cabinet, including boosting financial innovation and facilitating trade and investment.
Wu Jun, deputy director of Shanghai Financial Service Office, said the city will push forward capital account convertibility to further facilitate investment and fundraising by enterprises and individuals in both domestic and overseas markets.
Efforts will be made to boost cross-border use of the yuan, widen access to financial service sectors and accelerate construction of international financial markets, Wu said.
Gu Honghui, deputy director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, said there were plans to promote a number of measures initiated by the zone across the city.
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