Major industries in the Chongzuo Area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone
1.Cross-border finance
Chongzuo Area will implement its ASEAN-oriented cross-border financial innovation, and deepen financial reform through promoting the use of Chinese currency in ASEAN countries as the mainstay. It will also encourage financial institutions to provide one-stop services for Vietnamese workers, integrating salary payments, currency exchange and fund remittance and transfer, as well as cross-border currency settlement and clearing services. It will build a comprehensive demonstration area of an innovation-driven insurance industry associated with the Belt and Road Initiative, and further enhance the competitiveness of the local economy.
2.Cross-border tourism
Chongzuo Area will further improve customs clearance efficiency during the flow of goods and people. It will simplify the procedures of cross-border self-driving tours through Youyiguan (Friendship Gate)Port, pilot the customs declaration of cross-border self-driving vehicles by inbound and outbound means of transport, and promote the development of cross-border self-driving tours between China and ASEAN members. It seeks to accelerate the establishment of the China (Puzhai)-Vietnam (Xinqing) Pilot Zone for Cross-border Tourism and take integrated measures towards “easing control on the first line and tightening control on the second line” for people passing through the border in the free trade zone.
3.Cross-border labor service cooperation
Chongzuo Area will encourage implementation of the policy regarding extending foreign workers’ duration of stay in China from 30 days to 180 days, push forward the one-stop service of physical examination, document application and insurance purchase. It will also urge the relevant authorities to allow both Chinese and Vietnamese residents living in the border area to prolong their stay in Chongzuo and the adjacent region in Vietnam, from one day to a week with legal documents, and accelerate the transfer of cross-border labor service cooperation dividends, boosting the development of local industries.
4.Cross-border e-commerce
Chongzuo Area will follow the idea of “locating in Chongzuo, taking root in China, targeting ASEAN countries and going out to the world”, and build a high-level pilot zone for opening-up. The area will feature the purchasing and sale of commodities produced in ASEAN and other countries, create cross-border e-commerce logistics parks and cross-border e-commerce exhibition centers. One of its goals will be to promote the local development of tourism, shopping, entertainment and consumption, through both online and offline interaction in the Chongzuo administrative area and popular tourist destinations. It will also form a new cross-border e-commerce development paradigm characterized with “one core industrial district, multiple cross-border e-commerce logistics parks and exhibition centers”.