"A cherries from Chile can take up to 48 hours from the fruit farm where it is produced to the Chinese shopping mall." Zhu Zhisong, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, secretary of the Pudong New Area Committee, and director of the Management Committee of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone 3 At the "Global Free Trade Port Development Forum" at the 2023 annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia on April 29, he said that cherries, which are very common now, "Ten years ago, ordinary people were not very familiar with them, let alone tasted them, because the quantity is very small. Less and more expensive."
The "boarding" of cherries on the tables of the Chinese people has benefited from the zero-tariff policy on cherries established by the China-Chile Free Trade Agreement, and also benefited from the innovation of the customs clearance system implemented in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone: fresh fruits from From entry to acceptance and delivery at Pudong Airport, the time has been shortened to four hours.
Ten years ago, in 2013, China established its first free trade pilot zone in Shanghai. After 10 years of development, Zhu Zhisong used three photos of China's first foreign investment negative list, intellectual property protection agencies, and cherries as examples to describe the achievements of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
He introduced that the country's first foreign investment access negative list has been reduced seven times since it was launched in 2013, from 190 items to 27 items. Through the system innovation of customs clearance services, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone has become an important gateway for consumer goods such as fruit, frozen food, red wine, cosmetics, and watches to enter China. It also enables global companies to make full use of China's large market and enjoy the dividends of economic globalization.
Over the course of ten years, China has established 21 free trade pilot zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port. By 2022, the China Pilot Free Trade Zone will account for more than 18% of the country's foreign investment and more than 17% of import and export trade with less than four-thousandths of the land area, playing an important role in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment.
China's opening up is not limited to free trade pilot zones. Five years ago, in 2018, China announced the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Pilot Zone, gradually exploring and steadily promoting the construction of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics, and exploring the establishment of the highest level of openness in the world.
Li Rongcan, chairman of the Hainan Provincial Political Consultative Conference, said that the Hainan Free Trade Port has implemented more than 180 policy documents focusing on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in the past five years, 134 institutional innovations have been launched, two 15% income tax preferential policies, three The "Zero Tariff" list was implemented in an orderly manner, and a number of large multinational companies settled down. In the past five years, the increase of market entities in Hainan has exceeded the sum of the previous 30 years. As of last month, the growth rate of market entities has remained the first in the country for 36 consecutive months.
The construction of the Free Trade Pilot Zone and the Hainan Free Trade Port is a major strategic move for China to promote reform and opening up in the new era. In 2022, China proposed to "accelerate the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, implement the strategy of upgrading the pilot free trade zone, and expand the network of high-standard free trade zones facing the world."
Li Rongcan said that Hainan is currently planning to implement the "Global Free Trade Port Partnership Program" to expand international economic and trade cooperation to form a wider, wider and deeper opening-up pattern. By accelerating the integration of international advanced rules, regulations, management, The standard steadily expands the institutional opening, and strives to solve the problem as soon as possible.
At the forum, Hainan Free Trade Port united 19 free trade pilot zones in mainland China, and 6 overseas free trade zones (Hong Kong) including Jeju International Free City in South Korea, Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone in Cambodia, and Klang Port Free Trade Zone in Malaysia. ), jointly launched the Global Free Trade Zone (Hong Kong) Partnership Initiative. Proposals for cooperation in five directions include strengthening cooperation in areas such as aviation and shipping networks, logistics, and cross-border e-commerce, launching cross-border or cross-regional cooperation in industrial parks, and promoting international cooperation in digital economy and green economy.
The initiators of the initiative have confidence in future cooperation. Subra Maniam, general manager of Port Klang Malaysia Authority, said the partnership has the potential to significantly enhance trade and investment. Wu Lianxun, governor of Jeju Province in South Korea, said that the initiative will help deepen cooperation in economics, trade, tourism, culture, and education connecting global free trade zone (Hong Kong) partners.
Since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into force in 2022, regional economic integration has accelerated. When the construction of China's Free Trade Zone (Port) meets RCEP, what kind of new vitality will it inspire?
Yang Zhengwei, director of the Free Trade Zone and Port Construction Coordination Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that the construction of China's free trade zone (port) should rely on the regional environment created by RCEP, give full play to the superimposed effect of RCEP policies, and deepen cooperation in the industrial chain and supply chain in the region. Make full use of the superposition of the two free trades to solve different problems.
"In the future, China's free trade zone (port) construction goal will surpass RCEP." Yang Zhengwei said that he is currently considering choosing a free trade port and a conditional free trade pilot zone to try first, and promote the construction to connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules. institutional system.
Source of information: Released by Pudong
