At the annual meetings of China's national legislature and top political advisory body, currently ongoing in Beijing, the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) was included in China's government work report for the sixth consecutive year.

The changes in the report's wording from 'exploring development' to 'accelerating development' to 'solid advances' offer a glimpse into the strong rise and formation of the Hainan FTP.

This year's work report proposes strong upgrading of pilot free trade zones, and granting more autonomy to the Hainan FTP and other pilot free trade zones.

"With the guideline of high-level opening-up, we will work to improve our ability to meet international standards," said a representative of the Office of the Free Trade Port Working Committee of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee. In the past year, the Hainan FTP has worked to implement and coordinate with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). Hainan has also carried out systematic opening-up pilot projects while continuing to expand pilot area business formats.

Yangpu International Shipping Building. (Photo: Hainan Daily)

In addition, Hainan has taken the lead in establishing a whitelist for cross-border science and technology fund payments, as well as exploring a 'land supermarket' — an online platform offering the use of idle land plots— a significant institutional innovation that aims to invigorate land resources and ease project hurdles for both developers and suppliers.

To improve the business environment, Hainan has also continued to deepen reforms of the 'commitment-based admittance' and 'admittance-based operation' systems, with the number of business license notifications and commitments ranking first in the nation for two consecutive years.

Hainan has now published a total of 140 institutional integration innovation cases in 16 groups, with eleven cases replicated and pushed out nationally by the State Council. The depth, breadth, and intensity of Hainan FTP reforms continue to improve.

Lingshui Li’an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone. (Photo: Hainan Daily)

Hainan is on the rise in many other ways as well. With the 31 main customs closure projects basically complete, preparations for the independent customs operations of Hainan are proceeding well. The three lists of 'zero-tariff' eligible goods are expanding and growing more efficiently, and the key policies of the FTP are being further implemented. New progress has been made in the development of a modern industry system, and the completion of major projects and platforms is being accelerated.

The Yangpu Port Customs Closure Operation Project. (Photo: Xinhua)

This year, Hainan will increase the number of business entities and application scenarios as much as possible by making excellent use of existing FTP policies, while software and hardware development for independent customs operations are expected to be in place on schedule in order to ensure the smooth implementation of necessary tasks for customs closure operations.

Read more:

Hainan FTP: Six New Institutional Innovation Cases Unveiled

Hainan FTP: 22 new vehicles added to zero-tariff list

How to purchase idle land in Hainan's "Land Supermarket"?