A large amount of goods are neatly arranged in the Xiamen FTZ, which is one of the three sub-zones of Fujian FTZ. [Photo provided to en.ftz.xm.gov.cn]
The China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone was officially launched in April 2015 after the State Council had given the green light for its establishment on Dec 31, 2014.
The zone comprises three sub-zones: Pingtan, Xiamen, and Fuzhou.
To date, the zone has rolled out 20 batches of 622 innovative initiatives, with 35 innovative results being duplicated and promoted across the nation. Moreover, seven pilot experiences have been listed as best practice cases for national FTZs.
Since its establishment, the Fujian FTZ has advanced various experimental tasks. Although it occupies less than one-thousandth of the total area of Fujian province, it has attracted nearly 30 percent of new foreign capital and contributed to one-sixth of the total foreign trade import and export volume.
By the first half of 2023, the Fujian FTZ had attracted 127,800 new companies with a registered capital of 2.78 trillion yuan ($382.9 billion), 8.3 times and 12.5 times the figures before its establishment respectively.
A total of 3,097 new Taiwan-funded enterprises with a contracted capital of $8.09 billion, accounting for 27.8 percent and 29.8 percent of Fujian province's total during the same period, have been added.
The China-Europe (Xiamen) freight has so far dispatched 1,263 batches of goods worth 31.20 billion yuan.
As of September 2023, the negative list for foreign investment has been reduced to 27 items, with a total of 5,157 new foreign-funded enterprises. The international trade "single window" has connected more than 40 departments, offering 101 basic service functions online, and serving a total of 17,505 enterprises and institutions.
In 2022, the cross-border e-commerce export to Taiwan surpassed 17 million shipments, with a cargo value exceeding 10 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 70 percent of the total cross-border e-commerce export from mainland China to Taiwan.
To date, the Maritime Silk Road Central Legal District has gathered more than 1,260 legal service, and legal-tech companies. It has also connected with over 2,500 legal service agencies and handled more than 1,300 commercial and maritime cases with the subject amount exceeding 10 billion yuan.
The Platform of Business Incubator for Cross-Straits Young Entrepreneurs has accommodated over 1,100 Taiwan enterprises and teams, as well as more than 2,600 Taiwan youths.