Chongqing- Over a quarter of Chongqing's import and export enterprises, located in the China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (CFTZ), have contributed to 70% of the city's foreign trade value, as this year marks the 5th anniversary of CFTZ, local authorities said Thursday.
Over a quarter of Chongqing's import and export enterprises, located in the China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, have contributed to 70% of the city's foreign trade value.(iChongqing/Zheng Ran)
The CFTZ has attracted over 65,000 market entities in the past five years, including mega projects involving billions of dollars, such as Starlight International Precision Medicine Innovation Center, and many iconic projects like EMAG in Germany and Global Data Solutions Limited. It strives to further high-level opening-up and promote high-quality development.
Differentiated exploration
Serving the Belt and Road, the city opened the world's first international letter of credit for railroad waybills. (iChongqing/Zheng Ran)
Serving the Belt and Road, the city opened the world's first international letter of credit for railroad waybills. Three standards of international freight forwarder railway intermodal operation procedures, innovated by Chongqing, were approved as national standards.
Serving the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the customs clearance time was reduced by 40%, thanks to the innovation of multimodal transportation. The first China International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFA) multimodal bill of lading has been issued here.
Serving the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the customs clearance time was reduced by 40%, thanks to the innovation of multimodal transportation. (iChongqing/Zheng Ran)
China's first cross-border financial blockchain, the financing settlement application scenario for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), has provided over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for logistics enterprises.
To serve the Yangtze River Economic Belt, a new river-sea transportation mode has improved the punctuality of river transportation by 40%.
Groundbreaking actions
"The CFTZ has promoted institutional opening aligned with international high-level economic and trade rules and cultivated 88 key institutional innovation achievements. Seven of them are promoted nationwide," said Li Xunfu, an official with Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, at a press conference held on Thursday, marking the fifth anniversary of the CFTZ's establishment.
More than 20 innovative pilot projects, including qualified domestic limited partners (QDLP), have been obtained, and the new model of knowledge-based credit financing has been replicated and promoted nationwide.
The CFTZ has built the only regional patent navigation project research and promotion center in the country. The center aims to integrate intellectual property data information from 103 countries worldwide and build industry-specific databases.
China's first comprehensive and specialized court in the pilot free trade zone has provided solid legal protection for the CFTZ.
The only trademark examination cooperation center in western China was established here. The central government highly recommended the new legal service model for foreign-related commercial matters.
Joint efforts
Foreign trade enterprises in Chongqing and Sichuan have a unique benefit in China. They can conduct business through the electronic port card across customs areas and save nearly 1,000 yuan (about 157 U.S. dollars) for a single transaction. Besides, the processing time is 2/3 less than before.
This benefit comes from the superposition effect of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and the CFTZ.
Customs in Chongqing and Sichuan have built an integration project called "one key pass of customs-banking." It is also the first time to conduct electronic port cards across customs areas in the country.
Over 2,000 enterprises need to conduct cross-provincial import and export business in Chongqing and Sichuan. With the superposition effect of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and the CFTZ, this demand will increase in the future.
The China Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) has achieved substantial growth. The number of trains has exceeded 5,000, accounting for more than 30% of the national total. The volume of transport containers has exceeded 400,000 TEUs, reaching more than 100 cities in Europe.