| Steering Development and Opening-up for Sharing and Win-win Cooperation
——2018 China Pilot Free Trade Zone Co-opening-up and Co-development Forum Successfully Held
On April 1, 2018 China Pilot Free Trade Zone Co-opening-up and Co-development Forum was held in Chengdu. Some 200 guests attended the Forum, among whom were leaders of 11 pilot free trade zones in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi, heads of consular agencies and economic and trade promotion agencies in Sichuan and Chongqing, representatives of well-known Chinese and foreign chambers of commerce and industry associations, as well as representatives of some Fortune Global 500 companies and renowned multinational companies. Zhu Hexin, Vice Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, attended and addressed the forum. Long Yongtu, Chairman of Center for China and Globalization, along with other relevant experts, delivered a keynote speech. The Forum included a dialogue on the co-opening-up of China pilot free trade zones and a seminar on the construction of free trade ports and a “one-bill coverage system” for multimodal transport. Meanwhile, the above-mentioned 11 Pilot Free Trade Zones jointly issued the China Pilot Free Trade Zone Co-opening-up and Co-development Initiative.
Since the Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Zone was approved, it has been considered a “leading project” that promotes Sichuan’s comprehensive development and opening-up, and paves the way for its long-term growth. Sichuan has closely followed the core task of institutional innovation, strengthened coordination and cooperation between provincial authorities, and between provincial and municipal sectors, introduced three major institutional arrangements of the pilot free trade zone (the Overall Program, Management Measures and Implementation Plan), and built a comprehensive model integrating “the list-based management system + the work responsibility system + the accountability inspection system” to proceed with the construction in a solid and orderly manner. After a year of initial exploration, institutional innovation is now advancing rapidly and steadily with continuous vitality and the reform dividend growth is accelerating. In 2017, 22,000 new enterprises were established in the pilot zone, with a total registered capital of RMB 310 billion. Of those enterprises, 204 enterprises were foreign-invested and they accounted for 1/3 of the total number in Sichuan. One year since its approval, Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Zone has witnessed the establishment of 34,000 new companies, with a total registered capital of nearly RMB 400 billion, the full implementation of 159 reform trials, the introduction of more than 500 solid and operable supporting policies, and the formation of over 200 practice cases. Moreover, breakthroughs have been made in reforms such as "one-bill coverage system” for multimodal transport, "innovation and start-up bonds" targeting small and medium-sized technology enterprises, and the establishment of People's Court of Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Zone. While stimulating the growth of open economy, the Pilot Zone also upgrades ideology, development philosophy, institutional mechanisms, government services and the environment for the rule of law. It generates reform strength, creates space for opening-up, and promotes the overall economic and social development in Sichuan, thus accelerating the building of a platform for co-reform and co-opening-up.
The 11 Pilot Free Trade Zones have jointly launched initiatives in the following seven areas: pinpointing the Pilot Free Trade Zone construction in the new era; vigorously implementing the strategy of co-opening-up between China's inland and other regions along the coast, the frontier and major rivers; focusing on institutional innovation to increase coordinated experiments and system integration; highlighting distinctive advantages to co-cultivate promising new areas for regional opening-up and cooperation; accelerating the forging of a platform for co-reform and co-opening-up; jointly enhancing the level of connectivity among the 11 Pilot Free Trade Zones; and establishing a co-opening-up mechanism for them. |
