Martin Li

    martin.mosue@163.com

    THE administrative committee of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Qianhai & Shekou Area started operation in western Shenzhen yesterday.

    Shenzhen Party chief Ma Xingrui said at the opening ceremony that the Qianhai Cooperation Zone-Shekou Industrial Zone area should continue making efforts to improve government efficiency. He also asked the area to use data-collection methods to rate business and personal credibility.

    Ma and other city leaders granted business licenses to six enterprises at the ceremony.

    The administrative committee also signed a cooperation memorandum with Shenzhen Customs, the city’s exit-entry inspection and quarantine bureau and the Shenzhen office of the State Taxation Bureau. These departments have all prepared measures to support innovation in the area.

    Shenzhen Customs aimed to shorten clearance time by half in the area and the tax bureau plans to give enterprises in the area access to its expanded e-service.

    The Guangdong FTZ also includes Nansha in Guangzhou and Hengqin in Zhuhai.

    While Qianhai and Shekou will continue to focus on the development of the high-end service industry, Hengqin’s development will mainly cover tourism, commercial services, and the high-tech and creative industries. The development scale of Nansha is larger, including port facilities and dedicated manufacturing districts.

    The 10.9-square-kilometer Shekou Industrial Zone, located in Nanshan District, was developed solely by Hong Kong-based China Merchants Group in 1979 — before the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone came into being.

    Shekou was referred to as the “black horse” by the mainland media when it was announced last year that it would be included in the Guangdong FTZ. Yang Tianping, general manager of China Merchants’ Shekou Industrial Zone Co. Ltd., described the latest development as “a natural thing.”

    “Shekou has excellent logistics and port facilities,” explained Yang. “It can rapidly provide facilities for the development of Qianhai’s emerging industries, and facilitate Qianhai’s finance, technology, logistics and service industries’ development.”

    The Guangdong FTZ is one of the three zones that were launched April 21. The other two are located in Tianjin and Fujian.

    The new zones were established 18 months after the first FTZ was unveiled in the Shanghai financial hub. The Shanghai zone was designed to help streamline the overloaded administrative approval system and encourage innovation.