FTZ alliance to boost high-quality development

By SHI JING in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated:May 11, 2021

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An aerial view of factory buildings in the Lingang area is seen in Shanghai on June 8, 2019. [Photo/IC]

The Free Trade Zone Alliance of the Yangtze River Delta Region, which\r\n was formed in Shanghai on May 10, will facilitate high-quality and \r\nintegrated development of the region, said officials.

The alliance has been jointly set up by FTZs in Shanghai, Zhejiang, \r\nJiangsu and Anhui, while the secretariat is located in Shanghai. The \r\npurpose of forming the alliance is to further facilitate trade, \r\ninvestment, financial innovation, technology trade, cross-border \r\nresearch and development, integrated technology innovation, intellectual\r\n property rights services, exhibitions, systematic innovation and \r\nintellectual support among the FTZs in the four places.

FTZ policies have been experimented in 11 cities in the Yangtze River\r\n Delta region. The Shanghai FTZ, which was launched in September 2013, \r\nis the first of its kind in China. It has undergone two major expansions\r\n over the past few years. The Zhejiang FTZ, which was officially \r\nlaunched in April 2017, expanded for the first time in September. The \r\nJiangsu FTZ was established in early August 2019 while the youngest the \r\nAnhui FTZ was unveiled last September.

Weng Zuliang, director of the Shanghai FTZ's administrative \r\ncommittee, said the alliance will inject more vitality into the FTZs in \r\nthe four places, providing new opportunities for the high-quality \r\nintegrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

The alliance will strive to give full play to the strength of the \r\nFTZs in the region, said Weng. A higher level of systematic innovation \r\nshould be advanced in the first place so that better overall planning \r\ncan be made. Innovation results reached in different FTZs should be \r\nbetter connected so that the goal of high-quality development can be \r\nbetter attained, he said.

Zhao Jianjun, head of the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province,\r\n said the Jiangsu FTZ will look to experiment with more opening-up \r\npolicies and give full play to the area's real economy. The biomedicine \r\nindustry in the FTZ obtained support from the Ministry of Commerce last \r\nyear to experiment with more development models. The industrial \r\ndevelopment and systematic innovations reached in the Jiangsu FTZ can \r\npave the way for the development of the biomedicine industry in the \r\nwhole region, said Zhao.

Sheng Qiuping, head of Zhejiang's commerce department, said the \r\nalliance will provide a window for Zhejiang and Shanghai FTZs to jointly\r\n build a bonded product registration platform at a faster pace. The \r\nZhejiang Mercantile Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange will also\r\n be able to work more closely with the help of the alliance.

The Anhui FTZ has come up with 112 detailed targets under the \r\nestablishment of the alliance. As Zhang Jian, head of Anhui's commerce \r\ndepartment, said, the alliance will feature the connection of \r\nindustries, markets, trade, investment, business management and talents \r\namong the four FTZs so that more innovation results will be nurtured.

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