Shanghai pilot to steer growth of free trade zones

According to media reports, a number of regions such as Tianjin and Chongqing have also lobbied the central government for FTZ approvals. Guangdong is charting plans for a new integrated free trade zone along with Macao and Hong Kong.

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Fan said the NDRC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce will jointly design the overall plan for the proposed "Silk Road Economic Belt".

The belt was proposed by President Xi Jinping in September. It will be a free trade zone that includes China and Eurasian countries, which have a combined population of 3 billion.

Experts said it would play a significant role in boosting cooperation between China and Eurasian countries and economic development of the regions along the road.

More regional policies are in the pipeline. A detailed plan for the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province is in the making, Fan said last month.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area had a combined GDP of over 6 trillion yuan ($980 billion) in 2013 and a total population of more than 100 million.

The NDRC is also working on plans for an economic belt along the Yangtze River, which will involve 11 regions: Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan and Guizhou.

Wei said the belt will be a new pillar for China's economic development in the long run and achieve a balance between the central and western regions, which are expected to drive China's future economic growth.

Development across regions is becoming more coordinated, and regional gaps are narrowing. All policies are designed after taking regional individual competitiveness and strengths into account, Fan said.

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