Party secretary celebrates free trade zone's success

Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang visited the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone on Saturday to the fifth anniversary of its official establishment.

The first stop on Li’s inspection tour was Shanghai Intellectual Property Court which was established to protect and encourage innovation. Li was told that the court had heard more than 7,000 cases, of which 14 percent were foreign-related.

Li vowed to further strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, enhance international exchanges and improve the rule of law system.

At Waigaoqiao Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park, Li visited the exhibition hall of Georg Fischer Ltd and heard how imported lathes could be freely moved from overseas to the hall and vice versa, free from duty, import tax and permits. All to the benefit of the company.

Li’s answer was to further attract elite firms from around the world, drive the upstream and downstream enterprises to develop and expand and promote the formation of a more integrated and competitive industrial ecosystem.

The industrial park is one of the professional platforms in the free trade zone which has agglomerated a number of world-class lathe manufactures and offers them services such as display and sales of bonded goods, logistics for exhibited products, parts distribution and statutory inspection.

Li's next stop was the Shanghai Free Trade Zone International Artwork Exchange Center where he learned about an integrated operation for artwork display and sales.

He also exchanged views with the head of the center on copyright services and the promotion of the culture and creative industry. Li said the development of Shanghai’s culture and creative industry had great potential with the fulfillment of 100 new measures to further expand the city’s opening-up.

Shanghai introduced an action plan for the 100 measures in July in the areas of finance, advanced industries, intellectual property, supportive platforms for imports, and business environment.

During a discussion with city leaders and officials from the administration committee of the free trade zone, Li stressed doing well in implementing the 100 measures, accelerating the opening up of key areas, developing transit and offshore trade and promote the integration of trade in goods and services.

Li pointed out that the free trade zone pool high-end elements and resources, develop strategic and leading industries and find a new way of high-quality development in line with the characteristics of mega cities.

Shanghai should play a leading role in promoting an integrated higher quality development in the Yangtze River Delta and amplify the spillover effect of institutional innovation in the Shanghai free trade zone, he said.

“The Shanghai Free Trade Zone shall strive to become a bridgehead for the country’s 'Belt and Road' initiative and help domestic companies channel investment overseas, build a new platform of opening-up and cooperation as well as a hub to allocate market resources,” Li said.