Pedestrians walk past the entrance of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. [Photo by Wu Jun/For China Daily] 

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is determined to promote its all-round opening-up and high-quality development, according to news from the briefing arranged by Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China on April 10.

Hang Yingwei, executive deputy-director of Shanghai FTZ, said the zone would support the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative.

Hang said that the zone actively tried to attract more foreign-funded projects by promoting the opening-up in the fields of telecommunications, finance, and manufacturing.

The zone will also rapidly set up a national asset management center. Lujiazui has been home to more than 40 asset management institutions among the world's top 100, and more are expected to arrive in Lujiazui.

Innovative development of new trade businesses is encouraged, according to Hang. The Shanghai FTZ now has six trade platforms, each generating trade volume of over 100 billion yuan ($14.49 billion), and by 2020 there are expected to be ten trade platforms.

The opening up in offshore trade and service trade sectors will be expanded, such as including more industries and enterprises into a pilot “white list”, and cancelling certain limitations on cross-border supply, said Hang.

Zhu Min, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, stated that the zone has put lots of efforts into exploring facilitation measures and has accumulated some successful experience, and it will continue to promote free trade and trade facilitation.

It will carry out industrial chain-based systematic reforms, particularly in key industries such as integrated circuit, intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine, aerospace and new material, said Zhu.

With the aim of promoting the high-quality development of Yangtze River Delta area, the zone is taking the initiative to advance coordination among the regions, according to Zhu.

A linkage mechanism between the zone’s financial reform and Zhejiang's bulk commodity trade has been formed.

Thanks to its system innovations and opening up policies, the zone's economy has rapidly grown. In 2018, the zone got 7,198 new enterprises, and contributed to a quarter of Shanghai's GDP, and 40 percent of the city's total foreign investments.

Later, the zone will align with the world's best free trade zones and learn from most competitive opening up policies to make a good plan for setting up new functional areas.