Han Zheng Explains The Biggest Bright Spot And Difficulties Of Shanghai Free Trade Zone

On the whole, the exploration and practice of the FTA for one year, with the help and support from various state departments, has made great breakthroughs in system innovation and achieved important results.

These achievements are summed up in four points: the investment management system with the negative list as the core is basically established; the trade supervision system focusing on trade facilitation is in effective operation; the financial innovation system with the goal of capital account convertibility and financial services opening is orderly promoted; and the basic system of post event supervision has been formed with the pformation of government functions as the core.

That is to say, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have been pushing forward the four aspects of institutional innovation in Shanghai's FTA pilot area, and have made significant progress in varying degrees.

At present, the third party assessment work carried out from different angles by the Chinese and foreign agencies such as the State Council Development Research Center, PWC, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and so on will also be completed, and these assessment reports will be officially announced.

First, the free trade area is a national experimental plot, not a place for private plots.

General secretary Xi Jinping has important instructions and requirements for the free trade area. He pointed out that the Shanghai free trade pilot area is an experimental field for the central government to better cope with the changes and challenges of international economic and trade and investment rules, improve the level of opening to the outside world, and promote reform and development by opening up.

Therefore, we can see that in accordance with the requirements of the general secretary, the establishment of a pilot free trade zone is a national strategy.

In the experimental field of this national strategy, all the contents of the trial are the contents needed to be further explored by the state to further expand and deepen the reform, and also the contents we need to explore in accordance with the new rules of international trade and investment and international common practice.

For example, the market should be liberalized, the market will play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, expand the scope of opening up, and further improve the system. For example, domestic capital and foreign capital should be treated equally, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises should be treated equally, forming a fair, unified and efficient business environment that is internationalized, market-based and ruled by law.

This year's exploration experiment is completely different from serving the national strategy, and the development zones, bonded areas, preferential policies and special development areas that we talked about in the past.

That is to say, all the contents of the development and exploration of the FTA are not for the sake of local development, but also for serving the national strategy.

This is the experimental field of the country, and can not be turned into a private plot.

Second, the key of the FTA is to become the highland of institutional innovation and never become a depression for preferential policies.

Only when we become the heights of innovation can we meet the national development strategy.

The general secretary and Premier emphasized repeatedly that the core task of the pilot area is institutional innovation, which is to take the lead in exploring the breakthrough and new path for the country's comprehensive deepening reform.

Premier Li Keqiang explicitly asked us not to use our strength in research preferences.

Above all, we must continue to be a leader in reform, set up new benchmarks for opening up, forge ahead with courage and creative wisdom, and explore ways to deepen the reform of government administration system.

This year's practical exploration is to strive to become the highland of institutional innovation in accordance with the requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. We will never make the free trade area a policy depression.

In fact, a number of innovative systems have been formed in the past year to explore the implementation of negative list management mode, foreign investment management system reform, industrial and commercial registration system reform and trade facilitation reform.

The innovation of these systems has created a very good environment for business from institutional mechanisms and management systems, especially improving efficiency, stimulating market vitality and reducing operating costs.

These systems are guaranteed.

The equal and equitable treatment of state-owned enterprises.

Third,

The results of the system must meet the requirements of replicable extension, which is nursery, not bonsai.

The requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council are very clear. After the successful exploration of the system innovation in the FTA, we must be able to replicate it in a wider scope and across the country.

In a sense, whether the success of the pilot area is successful depends on how much service has been established in the national strategy and can be replicated and popularized in the whole country. This is an important yardstick.

Through the vigorous promotion of relevant departments of the state, over the past year, especially in the past six months, 21 systems have been replicated nationwide, including 6 investment management, 9 trade regulation and 6 financial innovations.

The achievements of the 21 replicating system innovations are mature in the process of construction and management of FTA pilot area, rather than the concept of three years' package.

What is being studied now is what else can be popularized, that is, a batch produced in the FTA run at 1st anniversary.

At present, under the guidance of the relevant departments of the state, we are making a summary and evaluation of the other 30 more mature innovative systems. After the conditions are ripe, they will be copied and promoted in batches in stages according to certain approval procedures.