BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The pilot free trade zones (FTZs) in Zhejiang, Henan, Shandong, Guangxi, Anhui, etc. recently released task lists for 2022 on the basis of joint deployment. The key driving points particularly include supplying favorable policies to the key projects of advantageous industries and incubating characteristic leading industries.
Aerial photo taken on Nov. 13, 2020 shows the night view of the sub-area of Heilongjiang pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.(Xinhua/Zhang Tao)
It's inferred from the analyst that the common feature of both the central government and local authorities in promoting the pilot FTZ development is to enhance the institutional support around the major areas, key links, and fundamental systems. In the future, the pilot FTZs will take on more tasks of integrating with high-level international rules, serve as the pioneers of pilot operation and infuse new vitality into local economic growth.
-- Pilot FTZs usher in a good start of new year work by linkage deployment
Policy breakthrough has been achieved in the construction of a new international trade center and Ningbo Beilun was approved as a pilot zone for high-level opening-up to cross-border trade and investment. Over the past month since the biomedical board of Zhejiang was included into the innovative pilot regional equity market by China Securities Regulatory Commission, 109 enterprises have been successfully listed and 51 biomedical enterprises accomplished financing with total amount of 9.2 billion yuan. A number of key industrial projects with a total investment of over 125.8 billion yuan, including LNG cool energy comprehensive utilization project of Sunpower, and Jintang New Materials Industry Park, have been contracted and started construction. Zhejiang Pilot FTZ has witnessed a good start in 2022.
Many Chinese provinces recently have listed the deployment and released the new targets, tasks, and measures for their respective pilot FTZ construction in 2022.
Shandong, Guangxi, Anhui, etc. also made systematic arrangements for pilot FTZ development in 2022. Measures such as establishment and improvement of mechanism for information release, assessment and popularization, and project advancement are proposed to promote the integration and innovation of the pilot FTZ development.
Du Guochen, Associate Researcher of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce (CAITEC), said that based on high-level opening-up, the pilot FTZs strengthened systematic planning in the deployments centered on new technology, new business form and new pattern at the beginning of this year and endeavored to remove institutional barriers to inject new vitality into local opening-up and development.
-- Advantageous industries firmly supported by enhancing institutional arrangements
The local deployments concentrate on the incubation of characteristic leading industries.
For example, Zhejiang Pilot FTZ Zhoushan area is proposed to intensify the reform in the field of oil and gas, introduce international strategic investors to its oil and gas exchange, develop marine LNG bunkering service, and spare no efforts to issue a number of heavy weight preferential policies.
Henan pilot FTZs will take both investment and talent attraction as the breakthrough to actively incubate specialization, refinement, differentiation & innovation enterprises and expand foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises as well as leading industries.
Guangxi Pilot FTZ will mainly focus on expediting the building of cross-border industrial chain clusters. An official in charge of the Construction Headquarter Office of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone said that the FTZ would eliminate the bottlenecks of industrial development precisely based on the major and target enterprises of each industrial chain, accelerate the clustering and opening-up of industries like intelligent terminals, new energy vehicles, new chemical materials, processing of ASEAN's special agricultural products and create China-ASEAN cross-border industrial chain clusters.
According to Nie Pingxiang, Researcher of CAITEC, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the pilot FTZs will further concentrate on the industries and sectors with local characteristics, advantages, or potentials as well as the weakness and obstacles in upstream and downstream of key industries, expand reform, opening-up and innovation to a higher degree and consolidate the advantages of industrial clusters, which will effectively contribute to the high-quality leapfrog development of the local economy.
-- Pilot FTZs act as pioneers for a higher level of opening-up
Driven by the enforcement of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and accelerated pace of joining Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and negotiation and signing of more advanced free trade agreements, the pilot FTZs will shoulder more trying-first missions.
The qualified pilot FTZs and free trade ports will be encouraged to connect with international high-standard economy and trade regulations and promote high-level institutional opening-up, said Guo Tingting, Director-General of the Comprehensive Affairs Department under the Ministry of Commerce. It’s expected to release a negative list for cross-border service trade of pilot FTZs.
At National Work Conference on Customs 2022, Ni Yuefeng, Director-General of the General Administration of Customs, proposed to actively build more opening-up platforms, push forward the integration, innovation, duplication, and popularization of customs supervision system of pilot FTZs and launch a trial run of part of the CPTPP rules in some pilot FTZs.
(Edited by Bao Nuomin with Xinhua Silk Road, baonuomin@xinhua.org)
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