By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-11-14 15:24

Ningbo Free Trade Zone (NFTZ), one of fifteen free trade zones approved by the State Council since 1990, welcomes its 15th birthday on 19 November this year in East China's Zhejiang Province.

Lai Qingguo, sales supervisor of Ningbo Roaby Scientific and Technological Industry Group, explains the product in Ningbo Free Trade Zone, East China's Zhejiang Province, on November 13, 2007. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Xia Qun, vice-director of Administrative Committee of NFTZ, commented on what the NFTZ has achieved over the past 15 years.

"In 1992, the State Council approved the setup of the NFTZ; in 2002, the State Council approved Ningbo Export Processing Zone, and in 2005, the Ministry of Information Industry approved NFTZ as one of the first National Electronic Information Industrial parks. The dates are the milestones for the development of NFTZ," Xia told journalists from ten major online media groups on Monday.

Untill now, the 6.25-square-kilometer NFTZ has set up a free trade zone, an export processing zone, and a bonded logistics zone covering high-tech processing, international trade and logistics industrial clusters, said Xia.

As of the end of September, NFTZ has attracted 6,000 enterprises with registered capital of US$51.3 billion, of which 940 are foreign-funded firms from more than 60 countries and regions with investment amounts of US$5.3 billion. 93 projects saw an investment of US$10 million individually, said Xia.

Figures show that in the first nine months of this year, the NFTZ's industrial output value totaled 30.28 billion yuan, up 200.4 percent year on year, while its fiscal income was 1.31 billion yuan, up 20.3 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the import-export amount was US$6.47 billion during that period, up 109.82 percent year on year.

Last year, the NFTZ realized a gross industrial output value of 16.2 billion yuan, a growth rate of 61.0 percent; a fiscal income of 1.36 billion yuan with an increase of 15.6 percent; and an import-export total of US$4.5 billion, an increase of 46.0 percent.

Xia said independent innovation is the key for a Zone's rapid development.

"The administered committee of the NFTZ promotes the construction of innovation systems and promotes the achievements of advantageous technology and development of high-tech industry with building a State level IT industrial base as the objective, and independent innovation as the core," said Xia.

Presently, the zone has attracted more than 200 high-tech projects with a general investment of US$3.4 billion. The clusters cover LCD, integrated circuit, and computer industries including Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Gigabyte, Proview, and Rodby Group.

The zone expects an industry output value of 12.8 billion yuan, international trade volume of US$3.2 billion and a fiscal income of 350 million yuan for every square kilometer next year, said Xia.

"The NFTZ is looking forward to a promising future," said Xia.