According to the press conference held by the National Development and Reform Commission of China on September 20th, over the past two years since the implementation of the Overall Plan for the Construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, relevant departments have given priority to institutional integration and innovation. Multiple major advances have been made.

Over the past two years, a series of policies and measures have been introduced to ensure liberalization and facilitation of trade, investment, cross-border capital flow, entry and exit of people, transportation, as well as data transfers, in a secure and orderly manner, which have provided an institutional guarantee for the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.

Benefiting from the free trade port policies, the growth rate of foreign trade and investment in the province has achieved a historic leap. In the first half of this year, the value of goods trade increased 56% year-on-year, and the actual utilized foreign capital grew 67.4% from a year earlier to 1.59 billion US dollars. In the past two years, the actual utilized foreign capital went up 52.6% annually, and the number of newly established overseas-funded enterprises saw an increase of 139% annually.

The special measures to relax market access have shown positive effects. Enterprises are enthusiastic about investing in the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the number of market entities has grown rapidly. In the past two years, the number of new market entities has exceeded 1 million, and the growth rate has remained the highest in China for 28 consecutive months. As of the end of August, the number of existing market entities has exceeded 2 million.

Huang Weibo, staff from the leading Group on Deepening All-Round Reform and Opening-up of Hainan Province said, “The tourism industry is growing, and the modern service industry is contributing more to economic growth. Breakthroughs have also been made in the three future industries namely the seed industry, deep-sea and aerospace. Deep-sea manned submersibles and other major equipment have gathered in Hainan, and the first commercial space launch site has started construction here.”

In the past two years, the reform of Hainan's administrative system has been continuously deepened. The "One-Seal Approval” has been implemented in all cities, counties and districts in Hainan, and the "single window" for international trade, investment and talent has been established. In the first half of this year, the customs clearance time for imports has been reduced by 43.6% and for export by 50.5% compared with the same period last year.