Chongqing - By 2025, the cooperative opening-up demonstration zone of the Sichuan-Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zone in Southwest China will establish a system of institutional openness that aligns with international advanced trade and economic rules, foster a number of international, regional open cooperation platforms, create distinctive open industry clusters, and achieve a comprehensive and high-level open posture.
According to an action plan (2023-2025) for deepening reform and innovation in the pilot zone, it aims to significantly enhance international influence and regional driving force.
Sichuan and Chongqing will accelerate the synergistic development and deepen their reform and opening up. (Photo/Liangjiang New Area)
The action plan will jointly promote coordinated reform and opening up in five key areas: trade and investment, logistics hubs, industrial development, open platforms, and business environment.
Economic and trade channels and logistics channel
According to officials from the Free Trade Office of Sichuan Province, particularly in the financial services sector, which plays a vital role in raising the level of investment and trade, the two free trade pilot zones will conduct a series of trials, including the facilitation of RMB settlement in trade and investment, the integration of domestic and foreign currency funds for multinational enterprise groups, pilot projects for qualified foreign and domestic limited partners, and cross-border commercial factoring.
Regarding logistics channels, efforts will be made to establish an efficient international logistics hub. Chongqing and Sichuan will focus on "rail, road, water, and air" transportation, optimizing the China Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) freight train brand, jointly developing the functions of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, promoting integrated port management, and improving the efficiency of air transportation.
Simultaneously, they will accelerate the exploration of rules and standards for multimodal transport services and jointly construct a land-based international trade rule system centered around railway transport documents.
A high-quality open industrial system
The automotive industry will focus on areas such as new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles. Efforts will be made to promote collaboration between automotive companies, universities, and research institutions to expand the automotive industry cluster further.
The high-tech industry will focus on new drug research and development, digital medical devices, and cutting-edge life science technologies. It aims to build an innovative and industrial chain in the key core areas of biopharmaceuticals, creating a national-level digital trade base and a high-tech service industry aggregation area for inspection and testing.
In the financial industry, efforts will be made to continuously enhance openness through cross-regional cooperation in multiple fields, constructing a unified credit market, and integrating financial infrastructure. The consumer sector will focus on cultivating international consumption formats, such as duty-free retail and high-end exhibitions, to facilitate international consumer development.
With the joint efforts of Chongqing and Sichuan, the implementation of the action plan is expected to accelerate the synergistic development of the two regions, deepen their reform and opening up, and contribute to the overall economic growth and international competitiveness of the Chengdu-Chongqing area.