A springboard for growth

A panoramic view of the Pudong New Area, where China Pilot Free Trade Zone is located. A look at how the Shanghai FTZ has over the past decade been a crucial engine driving innovation and economic development in China, Shi Jing reports. The negative list mechanism for foreign investment first implemented in the Shanghai FTZ is one of the most significant institutional breakthroughs made over the last decade. Figures and facts NUMBERS: ・ Of all the 302 institutional innovative measures experimented in the 21 FTZs in China and promoted across the rest of the country, 145 were first rolled out in the Shanghai FTZ ・ As of the end of 2022, the Shanghai FTZ had attracted $58.6 billion in foreign investment over the past decade. This figure accounted for about 30 percent of the city's total during the same period ・ More than 14,000 foreign-invested projects have been registered in the Shanghai FTZ over the last 10 years ・ The Shanghai FTZ accounted for 30 percent of the combined import and export values of China's 21 FTZs in 2022 ・ The Free Trade Account system has handled 142 trillion yuan in cross-border payments and settlements denominated in renminbi and foreign currencies as of 2022 ・ Approval time for business licenses shortened by nearly 90 percent ・ More than 500 frontier industry projects with a combined investment of more than 560 billion yuan have been set up in the Lingang Special Area MANY FIRSTS ・ China's first negative list for foreign investment: 2013 ・ China's first wholly foreign-owned hospital: the Shanghai Towako Hospital in 2016 ・ China's first wholly foreign-owned carmaker: Tesla in Lingang in 2018 ・ China's first wholly foreign-owned securities firm: JP Morgan in August 2021 ・ China's first international relay shipment made by a foreign company: 2022 ・ China's first yuan-denominated trade for imported LNG: March 2023 ・ China's first remanufacturing business: September 2023 SOURCES: CHINA PILOT FREE TRADE ZONE ADMINISTRATION, SHANGHAI GOVERNMENT NEWS OFFICE