A conference marking the third anniversary of the construction and development of Qingdao FTZ is held on Aug 19. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
A conference was held on Aug 19 to celebrate the third anniversary of the construction and development of the Qingdao Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, or Qingdao FTZ.
The China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, a bridgehead for Shandong province's reform and opening-up, was approved by the State Council in August 2019 and consists of three areas. Among them, the Qingdao Area is the largest area and undertakes the most pilot tasks. It covers 52 square kilometers in the Qingdao West Coast New Area.
At the conference, the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce released a comprehensive evaluation report for the third anniversary of Qingdao FTZ.
According to the report, Qingdao FTZ has been a pioneer in institutional innovation over the past three years. It has made 226 institutional innovation achievements and 79 of them are deemed as pioneering in China, accounting for 35 percent of the total, which is higher than the national average.
Through the three years of development, Qingdao FTZ has entered the first echelon among 67 areas of 21 free trade zones across the country with a number of remarkable achievements in institutional innovation and industrial development, said Cui Weijie, vice-president of the institute.
According to local officials' speeches at the conference, Qingdao FTZ has attracted 50 investment projects from the world's top 500 and added 25,000 marked entities since its establishment. The average annual growth rate of Qingdao FTZ's import and export volume and actual use of foreign capital reached 36.9 percent and 58.6 percent, respectively.
The conference also announced 30 innovative pioneers selected from three categories of system innovation, technological innovation and management innovation for serving as role models of innovation in Qingdao FTZ.
Ten innovative pioneers are honored at the conference. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Qingdao FTZ is located in the Qingdao West Coast New Area. [Photo/WeChat ID: qingdaozimao]
China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qingdao Area
