The Information Office of the Hunan Provincial People's Government convened a press conference on September 13, 2023. It announced the achievements of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone (Hunan FTZ) over the past three years. The Hunan FTZ has closely followed the strategic positioning of "one industry, one industrial park, and one corridor". Eighty-four institutional innovations with Hunan characteristics were made, and more than 34,000 new enterprises set up.

As of July this year, the Hunan FTZ has introduced 327 major projects with a total investment of 513.861 billion yuan. The import and export volume of the FTZ totaled 529.171 billion yuan, accounting for 28.73% of the provincial total. The actual use of foreign capital reached 753 million USD in the first seven months of this year, accounting for 28.71% of the provincial total.

The Hunan FTZ has focused on institutional innovation. Over the past three years, Hunan FTZ's seven institutional innovations have been presented and promoted nationwide by the State Council and related ministries and commissions. They included the intelligent transformation and market upgrades of the manufacturing industry, intensive development of international mail, international express, and cross-border e-commerce business, and the risk compensation mechanism of intellectual property pledge financing. The Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation commented that the Hunan FTZ was at the forefront among national FTZs in terms of institutional innovation quality.

The Hunan FTZ has nurtured a number of distinctive and advantageous industries to promote local development. The Changsha area has developed a global high-end equipment manufacturing base, fostering 21 national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration enterprises. The Yueyang area has established a modern port industrial system, with new material companies such as the Hunan InnoChina Advanced Material Co., Ltd. expanding their industrial scale. The Chenzhou area has built an innovative development demonstration zone for non-ferrous metals, which was recognized as a national-level innovative industry cluster in 2022.

The Hunan FTZ is fully committed to creating three national-level platforms: the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the Pilot Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, and the China-Africa Cross-border RMB Center. In addition, it has constructed a series of international service platforms, including a one-stop services center for foreigners working in China, an international financial hub, a talent hub, an intellectual property service center, and an international business and commercial cluster.

The international logistics hub is well-operated. The number of China-Europe freight trains handled by Changsha ranked third nationwide. Changsha airport opened seventeen international cargo flight routes. The container throughput of the Chenglingji Port in Yueyang City hit one million TEUs.

So far, the Hunan FTZ has established the first batch of 24 collaboration and coordination zones. This aims to collaborate with the Hainan Free Trade Port to jointly build the Hunan-Hainan Advanced Manufacturing Industry Co-construction Industrial Park, and create a "bridgehead" for Hunan's advanced manufacturing industry to enter international markets.

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

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn