Published on : 17/08/2024

On August 17, 2013, the State Council of China officially approved the establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone is the first to be approved for establishment.

At that time, its scope covered four special customs supervised areas: Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Logistics Park, Yangshan Bonded Port, and Shanghai Pudong Airport Free Trade Zone. The total area is 28.78 square kilometres.

According to media reports, the Ministry of Commerce, Shanghai Municipal Government, in conjunction with the relevant departments of the State Council, drafted the "China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Scheme" (draft) and submitted it to the State Council for approval in the first half of 2013.

The main contents include further deepening reform, accelerating transformation of government function, actively exploring innovative investment management models, expanding the openness of the service industry, accelerating the transformation of trade development methods, deepening the opening and innovation of the financial field, and establishing a regulatory system suitable for the pilot zone.

On July 3 of the same year, the Executive Meeting of the State Council discussed and in principle approved this draft plan.

As of mid-2024, China has a total of 22 free trade zones (ports), forming a full-coverage free trade zone map coordinating the east, west, south, north, and central parts of the country, as well as the land and sea.