Since its establishment in August 2019, the China (Yunnan) pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has accelerated the opening-up of the province, with innovations in investment, trade and finance deepened, said a recent news release.

        As one of the pressers focusing on provincial progress in the past decade, it said 56,000 businesses were established in the Yunnan pilot FTZ, making up 11.98% of the province total in the same period. The FTZ’s foreign trade reached 279.136 billion yuan, accounting for 32.58% of the province.

        With provincial policy support for reform and innovation, Yunnan pilot FTZ explored the development path of differentiated innovation, and 276 institutional innovation achievements have been formed over the three years, according to the press conference.

        Yunnan pilot FTZ has opened six special passages at Kunming air port and Mohan land port, in a bid to facilitate the Belt and Road Cooperation with Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and more neighboring countries. Now, fruits can be directed transported via rail plus road among China, Laos, Thailand and other Mekong countries.

        In the past years, Yunnan pilot FTZ’s Kunming area has doubled the numbers of new foreign enterprises, the total import and export volume, the actual utilization of foreign capital and other major economic indicators.

        A total of 56 cooperation projects have been signed in Honghe area of Yunnan pilot FTZ. There, the China-ASEAN e-commerce park has innovated a new business mode of "cross-border e-commerce plus physical market", inviting in over 150 enterprises.

        The FTZ Dehong area has created the inter-bank clearing business mode between China and Myanmar, and the annual cross-border RMB settlement has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

        Yunnan pilot FTZ’s also carried out studies on RCEP rules and national conditions of the RCEP countries, in a bid to facilitate international trade between the province and RCEP members.