Yangcheng Evening News reporter Sun Qiman Mo Jinrong
On the afternoon of the 7th, the second press conference on the theme of "High-quality Development in Guangdong" series - the press conference on the eighth anniversary of the establishment of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone was held in Guangzhou.
At the meeting, Zhang Jinsong, Director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Commerce and Director of the Free Trade Office, said that over the past eight years, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has established more than 260,000 new enterprises, and actually utilized nearly US$50 billion of foreign capital. The Pilot Free Trade Zone has invested in 465 projects and gathered 272 headquarters enterprises.
465 Fortune 500 investment projects
According to reports, in the past eight years, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has focused on building a modern industrial system, vigorously developing automobiles and artificial intelligence ., medicine and health, integrated circuits, modern finance, professional servicesIndustry and other advanced manufacturing industries and strategic emerging industries, established 211 national and provincial scientific and technological innovation platforms, including the National Large Scientific Installation of the Cold Spring System, the National Engineering Laboratory of Marine Engineering Assembly R&D and Design, and the State Key Laboratory of Integrated Circuits of the University of Macau. Continuously gather scientific and technological innovation resources and new momentum for high-quality development.
Over the past eight years, the cumulative investment in fixed assets in the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has exceeded 1 trillion yuan, with an annual average of more than 130 billion yuan. Tax revenue has increased from 57.4 billion yuan in 2015 to 95 billion yuan in 2022, driving Hengqin, Qianhai, and Nansha. The GDP of the three platforms will more than double from 224.4 billion yuan in 2015 to 466.3 billion yuan in 2022.
At the same time, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has benchmarked international high-standard rules, deepened the reform of "delegation, regulation and service", implemented the shortest negative list of foreign investment in the country and the first commercial registration system in the country in terms of enterprise access, and implemented the "business registration system" in terms of enterprise access. Innovative measures such as "one-stop service", "separation of certificates and licenses", "starting construction after handing over the land", "free trade zone without certificate", have established a wide-ranging and high-value industrial and talent policy in terms of service enterprises, and implemented "double 15%" for enterprises and individuals Preferential income tax policies and efficient and convenient cross-border tax services have created a world-class business environment.
Since its establishment in 2015, Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has accumulatively established more than 260,000 enterprises, and actually utilized foreign capital of nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars. 91 Fortune 500 companies have invested in 465 projects in Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, gathering headquarters enterprises 272.
A total of 696 institutional innovation achievements have been formed
In terms of the functions of an international trade gateway hub, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone is benchmarked against the international advanced free trade zones to create an efficient and convenient customs clearance system. The average customs clearance time has been reduced by 80%, the regulatory certificates have been reduced from 86 to 46, and the declaration is paperless. The conversion rate reached 99.6%. Established a large shipping system for sea, land and air transport, increased the number of international liner routes from 204 to 352, launched the "one port" and "combined port" business connecting 9 cities in the province, and built three major international airports connecting Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong The air cargo center of Nansha Port Railway "China-Europe Railway Express" has been opened. Nansha and Qianhai were approved as national import promotion innovation demonstration zones, cross-border e-commerce, transit consolidation, offshore trade, bonded refueling and other new business forms have developed rapidly, forming a, food and other bulk commodity distribution centers and import platforms. In the past three years, the total import and export volume of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has continuously exceeded 200 billion yuan, 300 billion yuan and 500 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of more than 25%. In 2022, container throughput will exceed 32 million TEUs, and cargo throughput will reach nearly 500 million tons, accounting for 45.4% and 24.4% of the province's total respectively.
The Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone took the lead in carrying out investment and financing reform pilot projects such as cross-border capital pools, cross-border asset transfers, cross-border investment of equity investment funds , and high-level opening of cross-border trade and investment, and established a free trade (FT) account system. By 2022, there will be a total of 55,000 new financial institutions, including 245 licensed financial institutions; the cross-border two-way RMB fund pool settlement volume accounts for 1/4 of the province's total, and the cross-border RMB settlement amount accounts for 1/7 of the province's total. Accumulatively handled FT account capital business exceeding 2 trillion yuan. The Guangzhou Futures Exchange launched and listed industrial silicon futures products, and Nansha became a financial leasing center in South China, delivering a total of 244 leased aircraft and 93 ships.
In addition, it is the first wholly-owned and controlled bank in Hong Kong and Macau that has landed in the country, securities, fund institutions, realize cross-border payment in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Wealth Management Connect, cross-border car insurance and medical insurance, cross-border housing mortgages and other innovative measures to facilitate people's livelihood exchanges in the three places. Established 11 Hong Kong-Macau-funded travel agencies, 14 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau joint venture law firms, built the first wholly-owned Macau-funded medical institution in the Mainland, and registered 55 Hong Kong construction projectsConsulting companies and 253 professionals, more than 1,000 Macao professionals in architecture, design, tourism, medical care, etc. have obtained Hengqin cross-border practice qualifications, and the Hong Kong and Macao Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship base has incubated 1,442 entrepreneurial teams. Since the establishment of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, a total of 24,000 Hong Kong and Macao-funded enterprises have been established, and the actual use of Hong Kong and Macao capital is 47.377 billion yuan, attracting more than 30% of the province's total Hong Kong and Macao capital with 6/10,000 of the province's area.
Last year, 13 joint development zones of Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone were established in the province. The first batch of 62 reform and innovation measures of Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone were implemented in the joint development zone, and more than 30 industrial and project cooperations were carried out. At present, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has accumulatively formed 696 institutional innovation achievements, replicated and promoted 216 reform and innovation experiences throughout the province, and released 301 institutional innovation cases.
The overall tax burden of Macao residents in Hengqin has dropped by 70%
At the meeting, Jiang Yuliang, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation, introduced that since the establishment of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, a total of 35 tax innovation measures have been selected as reform experiences that can be replicated and promoted in the province.
Jiang Yuliang said that the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone has made good use of preferential tax policies. In Hengqin, the preferential policy of 15% corporate income tax has been well implemented. In 2021, more than 60 enterprises will enjoy preferential tax reduction and exemption. Implement the policy of exempting the portion of the personal income tax burden of Macao residents working in Hengqin that exceeds the tax burden of Macao. In 2021, more than 500 people have enjoyed the preferential treatment, and the overall tax burden of Macao residents in Hengqin has dropped by 70%.
At the same time, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone continues to innovate and facilitate tax handling methods to create an international tax business environment. Initiated tax-handling facilitation measures such as "overseas handling" of cross-border RMB electronic tax payment, "one-stop handling" of cross-border tax-related business, and "online handling" of the whole process of tax resident identity certification, and made every effort to promote "contactless" Taxation, the non-contact taxation rate exceeds 96%.
In terms of benchmarking against Hong Kong and Macau, and continuing to promote the optimization of the international taxation and business environment, the Guangdong Provincial Taxation Bureau will launch service innovation measures: first, to accelerate the expansion of "Bay Area General Office", and second, to further promote "cross-border practice". At present, Guangdong has launched the "Bay Area General Office" service demonstration areas in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Huizhou, and Zhongshan. The services cover social insurance and medical insurance, real estate transactions, invoice issuance and other content closely related to people's livelihood. The office business covers 57 services in 5 categories. In terms of promoting "cross-border practice", starting from May 1 this year, qualified Hong Kong and Macao tax-related professionals can practice cross-border in Nansha, Guangzhou after they have registered for practice, promoting the in-depth integration of tax-related professional services in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao .