The compilation of an index of the achievements in institutional innovation in the country’s pilot free trade zones is an effective way to reflect their development status, Fu Zhengping, executive vice president of the Institute of Free Trade Zones of the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said of the "China Pilot Free Trade Zone Institutional Innovation Index," which was released July 24.
“China’s pilot free trade zones are the open highland in the new era,” Fu said. “They are designed to link land and sea, the inland and coastal areas, to carry out all-round opening up. It is important to create institutional innovations that can be duplicated and promoted.”
According to the index, Qianhai ranked first in four of the five indicators. “This is a delightful achievement,” said Fu, adding that Qianhai and the entire China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone have demonstrated a good development trend over the past two years.
Qianhai had the highest scores in the Government Function Transformation, Investment Facilitation, Trade Facilitation and Legal Environment indicators on the index.
Fu attributed Qianhai’s achievements to the State’s support and the various sound foundations of Guangdong Province.
"Since the central authority approved of the construction of Hainan Island Pilot Free Trade Zone, the construction of free trade zones has played a key role in achieving high-quality economic development in the new era. Guangdong has been at the forefront of the country’s reform and opening up, and the Guangdong pilot free trade zone stands out among the 24 free trade zones in the country thanks to its mature industrial base, high-quality business environment, historical position as a millennium port and high degree of government function innovations, such as administration simplification, flexible regulation and service optimization,” Fu said.
Fu said the released data shows that the results of institutional innovations in the pilot free trade zones in 2019 continue to be prominent and the innovation momentum is sufficient.
However, the financial score is low, as high-quality foreign investment accounted for a relatively small portion of the total investment, meaning that there is plenty of room for financial institutions to innovate and improve, said Fu, adding that pure investment incentives are not conducive to creating a sustainable investment environment.
Fu’s Institute of the Free Trade Zones has issued the "Blue Book of Institutional Innovation of China Free Trade Zone" and the "Institutional Innovation Index of China Free Trade Zone" for four consecutive years, which have received wide attention. Fu said that the institute has continuously optimized the details so that the data faithfully reflect the development of China's free trade zones to better help the implementation of the national free trade zone strategy.
