Shanghai FTZ to open up further for innovation

As the "test field" for China to further open up its economy, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone will explore new possibilities in expanding this role, said Ai Baojun, director of the zone administration commission in a news briefing on Thursday in Shanghai.

These include promoting government functional transformation and creating new administration models.

Shanghai will actively follow the trend of globalization and integrate itself into the rules of international investment and trade to improve its open-up model and this will help make Shanghai be an important driver for China to further integrate into globalization.

According to Ai, the core task of his commission is to create new institutions, instead of providing or waiting for preferential policies, and form the institutional framework to match the universal rules of international investment and trade.

Eight foreign enterprises passed won evaluation and approval from his commission in 190 fields with restrictions according to the negative list.

"We will try to construct an international, rule-of-law and market-based business environment in the zone in two to three years or even a shorter time", Ai noted. "We want to create a set of experiences and practices that can be copied and spread nationwide to serve the national reform and open-up."

As an important pilot project of innovation and structural upgrading of the zone, the Shanghai Joint Property Exchange has established a property exchange firm, and the Shanghai Futures Exchange will build an international crude oil futures trade platform in the zone.

The first cross-border electronic commerce service platform in China "cross-border links" will start soon in the zone.

A batch of new projects, including staple commodity trading, finance leasing and a shipping and freight index derivative trading will also be initiated in the zone.