The year  marks the second anniversary of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The information office of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region held a news briefing on Aug 30 to report on the construction of the FTZ. 

Since its establishment, the FTZ has completed all of its pilot reform tasks, a total of 44 institutional innovations have been popularized in the region, and 13 of them are among national initiative achievements.

By leveraging the advantages brought about by the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the FTZ has constructed a sea-rail intermodal logistics system to boost opening-up along the border and to connect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to the domestic market.

The Zone initiated the mutual recognition mechanism between railway and shipping containers, forming an international multimodal transport mode. Data information exchanges with Singapore and other ASEAN countries were promoted, and new modes, such as “shipside delivery” and “quayside shipment”, were implemented in the area.

In the first seven months of 2021, the overall customs clearance time of the Qinzhou Port was cut by 19.91 percent, when compared to last year, down to 16.88 hours.

Guangxi also made explorations to bolster its border economy. Its reform and innovation on the cross-border usage of renminbi in border areas was selected as part of the 4th batch of the FTZ’s best practical cases.

The FTZ optimized customs clearance procedures by adopting a centralized mode, which led to a complete realization of paperless clearance and an 80 percent reduction in total clearance time.

The Zone used its initiative in introducing information-based intelligent customs clearance, which greatly improved its working efficiency and saved 200 million ($30.96 million) yuan for enterprises. Such practices have provided experience for other inland ports along the border.

Guangxi strengthened its exploration of new mechanisms for opening up and cooperation with ASEAN countries. The China ASEAN financial city in the area has introduced 244 financial institutions, which is 11 times greater than the number introduced at the end of 2018.

The inauguration of the cross-border financial cooperation pilot in the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park developed an innovative mechanism for facilitating collaboration in the industry.

Regional currency trading in Guangxi has become the most active of all pilot FTZs, with the largest number of listed currencies.

As of June 2021, the cumulative amount of cross-border RMB settlement in the autonomous region has totaled 1.37 trillion yuan, ranking first among the nine border provinces and regions, and being top among the 12 western provinces of China.

The FTZ has also kept to a greater openness and constructed a cross-border industrial chain, service chain and value chain in the fields of electronic information, automobile, and new chemical materials.

The electronic information industry and technology incubation bases of the region have initially formed industry clusters, including the China-ASEAN Digital Scientific Innovation Park.

The Qinzhou Port Area of the FTZ has launched the construction of 16 major enterprises engaged in innovative industries with an investment or output surpassing ten billion yuan. Its 300,000-ton crude oil terminal has already passed project completion acceptance.

The Chongzuo Area has advanced power line processing projects. The China-ASEAN Business Center has been put into operation and the China-ASEAN Bulk Commodity Trading Platform has been promoted.  

The FTZ has been optimizing its business environment by integrating online and offline services and simplifying the service flow. The management system of pre-entry national treatment plus a negative list management for foreign investment, was fully implemented, and the comprehensive service platform of “Guangxi enterprises marching towards overseas market” was put into operation. The high-quality developments and a livable lifestyle in the three areas of the FTZ was also promoted.

By the end of July 2021, 39,000 enterprises have settled in the region, 10 times that of before the FTZ’s establishment. The actual inflow of foreign capital totaled $930 million and the import and export volume reached 331.3 billion yuan, accounting for 37 and 35 percent of the total foreign trade in the region.