Recently pilot free trade zones of Hunan and Yunnan provinces signed a cooperation agreement on collaborative opening-up and development. The move aims to intensify exchanges and cooperation of pilot free trade zones in the two provinces, seize the opportunities brought about by opening the China-Laos Railway, and expand the ASEAN market. 

The cooperation agreement clarified that pilot free trade zones of Hunan and Yunnan provinces would focus on cooperation in four major areas.

Collaborative Innovation. Exchanges and mutual learning on institutional innovation will be strengthened, reform and innovation experience and achievements will be created jointly, and the two-way output of innovation experience and the two-way utilization of accomplishments will be achieved.

Collaborative opening-up. Efforts will be taken to leverage Yunnan's geographical location on the border area and Hunan's geographical location on the transitional "belt" connecting the eastern coastal area with the central and western regions, and in the junction "zone" between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Coastal Economic Belt. Trade supply chain security and facilitation cooperation will be deepened under the RCEP agreement. The pilot free trade zones will strengthen port customs clearance cooperation, coordinate project co-introductions, develop cooperation demonstration parks, and expand cooperation demonstration enterprises. Joint efforts will be made to open big channels, promote extensive logistics, significant trade, and big industries, and advance collaborative innovation in pilot free trade zones in central and western China.
 
Coordinated development. Hunan and Yunnan will strengthen the coordinated development of the featured and advantageous industries and build industrial chains and industrial clusters with significant influence nationwide and to support the building of cross-border e-commerce distribution centers in the central and western regions. In addition, the two provinces will cooperate in building market procurement trade, cross-border logistics, bonded economy, and other industrial cooperation bases.

Collaborative investment attraction. The pilot free trade zones will share investment information, strengthen joint investment attraction, carry out two-way investment promotion, and push forward the establishment of a long-term, stable, and comprehensive collaborative innovation and cooperation mechanism. Pragmatic measures will be taken to ensure that critical projects will deliver results and strengthen talent exchanges and cooperation.

Hunan and Yunnan provinces have agreed that ten key cooperation projects will be defined according to the cooperation agreement and the demands of enterprises. The two provinces will promote an initiative on coordinated opening-up and development of pilot free trade zones in central and western China, which will be signed at the Hunan (Yueyang) Port Economic and Trade Expo. This will facilitate the implementation of the national strategy of advancing the development of western regions and the rise of central region. In addition, efforts will be made to give full play to the role of the China-Laos Railway, strengthen the cooperation in international logistics and port customs clearance between the two provinces, operate well Changsha-Laos, Huaihua-Laos trains, and promote the development of global logistics and imports and exports to ASEAN.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn