China will create seven new free trade areas

Almaty. October 25. Silkroadnews – Project execution plan for the third group of free-trade areas (FTA) in China is expected to be approved soon, “Xinhua” agency writes.

“In August China approved creation of seven new FTAs, including two in the coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Liaoning, four in the continental provinces of Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi, and one in the direct-controlled municipality city of Chongqing, where the country plans to duplicate the successful experience of FTAs created earlier”, the publication says.

At present there are 11 free trade areas operating in China, the first of which was created in Shanghai three years ago. In late 2014 similar zones appeared in Tianjin, Fujian and Guangdong.

China hopes the establishment of free trade zones in Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi, i.e. in less developed western regions of the country, will contribute to improve openness of the region and revitalize the local economy.

As noted, along with the successful test of the first two groups of FTA there was also a “negative list” developed that provides for a ban on foreign investors’ access to a number of the Chinese market sectors and allows companies operating in the areas not listed in the “negative list” to invest on the same rules as the domestic enterprises.