--Introduction to China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
The establishment of the China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as the Pilot Free Trade Zone) is a major decision made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. It is major measure launched to deepen reforms and opening-up, promote the construction of the “Belt and Road” and develop the western region and the Yangtze River Economic Belt under the new situation. It would contribute to developing important engines for Sichuan to build a new pattern of coordinated development featuring “one main area and multiple auxiliaries”, and providing core support to form the three-dimensional comprehensive opening-up pattern of “four-direction expansion and across-the-board opening-up”. It shoulders the historical mission of deepening pilot reforms, and serving as the vanguard of opening-up and pioneer for innovative development,
The Pilot Free Trade Zone stretches 119.99 km2 wide and consists of three areas: Chengdu Tianfu New Area covers an area of 90.32 km2 (including 4 km2 of the Block 4 (Shuangliu Park) of Comprehensive Bonded Zone in Chengdu High-Tech Zone and 0.09 km2 of the Chengdu Airport Bonded Logistics Center (Type B)); Chengdu Qingbaijiang Railway Port Area covers an area of 9.68 km2 (including 0.18 km2 of the Chengdu Railway Bonded Logistics Center (Type B)); South Sichuan Port Area covers an area of 19.99 km2 (including 0.21 km2 of the Bonded Logistics Center of Luzhou Port (type B)).
Strategic positioning: building it into a leading gateway in the western regions for development and opening-up, a pioneering zone in the inland that enjoys strategic support, a hub of international open channels, a new highland of open economy in the inland, and a demonstrative zone of collaborative opening-up between the inland and areas along the coasts, borders and rivers. They can be summed up as “four areas and one highland”.
The Pilot Free Trade Zone is the stepping stone of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC and People’s Government of Sichuan Province for the long-term development pattern of Sichuan. We have been creating “leading projects” for promoting comprehensive development and opening-up, and building the “five leading systems” of institutional innovation, connectivity, regional synergy, comprehensive opening-up, and growth driver cultivation. We will give full play to the “pilot and trial” role of comprehensive reform and opening-up, enhance the overall competitiveness of Sichuan and the western inland areas in the global market, and strive to stay at the forefront of comprehensive development and opening-up in the western hinterland.
The Pilot Free Trade Zone has followed closely the core tasks of system innovation and committed to basic requirements of moves that can be replicated and promoted in advancing the work of system innovation. Since its listing on April 1st, 2017, it has launched 159 reform and testing tasks assigned by the central government to Sichuan, forming more than 300 institutional innovations, 47 of which were reported to the Office of Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference of the State Council for Pilot Free Trade Zone, 29 of which were promoted throughout the province. 142 provincial-level administrative authorities have been decentralized (delegated) to the Pilot Free Trade Zone. More than 550 supportive policies were introduced, enabling the emergence of the refined “2018 Edition of Golden Policy” of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management mode was initiated. Over 99% of foreign-invested enterprises have adopted the record management system, reducing filing materials by more than 90%. Enterprises registered at the "single window" for international trade can enjoy free of charge declaration and inspection, increasing the customs declaration rate to 100%. The efficiency of customs clearance ranks the first in the country. Institutional innovations like the "one bill-of-lading system" for "Railway +" multimodal transportation, the " delays of Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship " of small and medium-sized technological enterprises, and the new model featuring integrated distribution and transportation of the China Railway Express were promoted by the Office of Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference of the State Council. A number of innovative cases, such as the reform of “the first license applying to later ones” for government review and approval, big data auditing, and reform of “commitment system”, were featured in “CCTV News” and “Live News” of China Central Television.
We will implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping who urged Sichuan to “integrate with the “Belt and Road” construction and national strategies of developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt to promote the collaborative opening-up between the inland and areas along the coasts, borders and rivers, and to create a three-dimensional and comprehensive opening-up pattern”. The Pilot Free Trade Zone has implemented the collaborative opening-up strategy between the inland and areas along the coasts, borders and rivers, and created a new engine for regional coordinated development. We will renew the model of “3 Areas + N Parks”, try our best to build a pioneering zone for coordinated reform within the province, and forge a demonstration zone for collaborative opening-up outside the province. Focusing on establishing a new three-dimensional and comprehensive opening-up pattern of “four-direction expansion and across-the-board opening-up”, and creating a cooperation mechanism for Sichuan and Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone, we will cooperate with 17 cities across the country to deliver government services and cooperate with Kunming and other cities to build land ports. We will integrate into the “Belt and Road” construction, and build the “China-European Center” into a national-level platform for opening-up and cooperation jointly established by the Ministry of Commerce and the European Union. About one-third of the province's foreign trade and 4/5 foreign contracted projects are located in countries along the “Belt and Road”. Tapping the location advantages of “nearing airway, railway and rivers”, we are to build a three-dimensional modern logistics system for international trade. Shuangliu International Airport has opened 109 international routes, rendering itself the only airport in the Midwest with a cross-border passenger flow of over 5 million. The China Railway Express (Chengdu) has opened a grand railway route for freight transportation linking Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia, with a total of 2,249 trains. The number of its operating trains and value of import and export from Chengdu ranked first in the China Railway Express; Luzhou Port has opened routes to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
By the end of June 2018, the number of newly-added enterprises in the Pilot Free Trade Zone was 36,200, with a registered capital of RMB 467.6 billion. There were 418 newly established foreign-invested enterprises, accounting for more than 1/3 of the provincial total. The total import and export volume was RMB 14.32 billion, accounting for 5.7% of the provincial total. The number of new enterprises, registered capital, and foreign-invested enterprises ranked among the leading positions of inland pilot free trade zones. 355 major projects were introduced. Projects like the SF UAV Headquarters Base, the Big Data Industrial Park of National Biomedicine, the Bonded Maintenance Base for International Aircraft Engine, the Malaysian National Pavilion, and the Whole Industry Chain for Intelligent Terminal have entered the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The “China-European Center” has turned into a national-level platform for opening-up and cooperation jointly established by the Ministry of Commerce and the European Union. The effect of the Free Trade Pilot Zone on driving Sichuan's open economy as well as industrial transformation and upgrading has gradually emerged.
Attachments: 1. Profile of the Three Major Areas of the China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Attachment 1
Introduction to the Three Major Areas of China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
(I). Chengdu Tianfu New Area of China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Scope of implementation: Chengdu Tianfu New Area covers an area of 90.32 km2 (including 4 km2 of the Comprehensive Bonded Zone (Shuangliu Park) in Chengdu High-Tech Zone and 0.09 km2 of the Chengdu Airport Bonded Logistics Center (Type B)). It consists of three districts: 29.86 km2 of the Chengdu High-tech Zone District, 26.45 km2 of the Direct Management District of Chengdu Tianfu New Area, and 34.01 km2 of the Chengdu Shuangliu District.
Positioning of functions: It focuses on developing modern service industry, high-end manufacturing, advanced technology, airport economy, port service and other industries, building national level modern clusters for high-end industries, innovation-driven areas to lead development, highlands for innovation in open financial industries, trade logistics centers and international aviation hubs. This will help to build it into a gateway for opening-up in the western regions.
1. Chengdu High-tech Zone District. It will fully tap its infrastructures of Global Center, New Exhibition Center, Tianfu Software Park, Jingrong International Plaza, Singapore-Sichuan Innovation and Technology Park, Xinnan Tiandi Business Circle, and Financial Headquarters Business District to develop high-tech industries such as the next-generation information technology, biomedicine, technology services, and R&D design, as well as to promote modern service industries like financial services, high-end commerce, trade of service, financial leasing, cross-border e-commerce, cultural science and education, and headquarters economy. It will lead the way in international cooperation of innovative industrial parks, financial reform and innovation, social governance modernization and other aspects, establish an integrated service platform for global trade, investment and technical cooperation, and create a hub for investment, cooperation and free trade among global science and technology parks.
2. Direct Management District of Chengdu Tianfu New Area. It will fully tap its three areas of Chengdu Science City, Tianfu Business District and International Fund Town to form an interactive development pattern with outstanding industrial characteristics and all-round innovation and opening-up. Committed to innovation and entrepreneurship, Chengdu Science City will put its priority on developing the next-generation of information technology, intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine and other industries; Tianfu Business District will put its priority on developing headquarters economy, exhibition business, cross-border e-commerce, display of bonded goods, cultural and creative industries; The International Fund Town will put its priority on developing emerging financial industries such as equity investment funds, internet finance, and technology finance, striving to build itself to a new district characterized by new systems and new industries.
3. Chengdu Shuangliu District. It will fully tap its infrastructures of Shuangliu International Aviation Hub and High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone to develop airport industries such as services of aviation hub, general aviation, aviation manufacturing and maintenance, aviation logistics, and cross-border e-commerce, as well as bonded industries such as processing trade, commodity exhibition, financial leasing (aircraft leasing), examination and maintenance, warehousing and logistics, international culture, and electronic information. It will strive to build itself into a demonstration zone for inland free trade boasting superior business environment, convenient investment and trade, efficient supervision and management, active innovation and entrepreneurship, and strong industrial strength.
(II) Chengdu Qingbaijiang Railway Port Area of China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Chengdu Qingbaijiang Railway Port Area covers an area of 9.68 km2 (including 0.18 km2 of the Chengdu Railway Bonded Logistics Center (Type B)). It boasts a railway container with the highest cargo throughput in the country. Relying on the china railway express to Central Asia, it has opened direct routes for freight transportation linking the European countries (Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Europe, Kazakhstan, etc.) and Central Asian countries. It focuses on developing port services such as international goods distribution and transfer, distributed display, bonded logistics and warehousing, international freight forwarding, finished automobile import, and special finance as well as on promoting modern service industries like information, technology, exhibition, so as to build it into an important fulcrum for the westbound channel of international trade linking the inland area to the economic belts of the Silk Road.
(III) South Sichuan Port Area of China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
The South Sichuan Port Area covers an area of 19.99 km2 (including 0.21 km2 of the Bonded Logistics Center of Luzhou Port (type B)). Located at the junction of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, It is a logistics center for regional shipping, an important gateway for the southward opening-up of Chengdu and Chongqing, and a vital driver for the development of Yunnan and Guizhou. Relying on the Yangtze River which has made it possible for the combination of railway and waterway transportation, and which boasts linkage to rivers and seas, it has built the Luzhou Port – the largest shipping port in Sichuan - with an annual handling capacity of 1 million TEU. It focuses on developing modern service industries such as shipping logistics, port trade, education and medical care, as well as advanced manufacturing and special advantage industries such as equipment manufacturing, modern medicine, food and beverage, so as to build it into an important regional hub for comprehensive transportation as well as an important portal for the southward opening-up of Chengdu and Chongqing and driving the development of Yunnan and Guizhou.
