Business
On April 21, 2015, China (Tianjin) Free Trade Pilot Zone was established, first of its kind in North China. Tianjin Free Trade Zone serves as a test area for national strategies and local development.
Tianjin Free Trade Zone has a planned area of 119.9 square kilometers, covering three areas: Tianjin Dongjiang Port Area, the Airport Business Area and Binhai New Area Central Business District. According to the “Overall Plan for the China (Tianjin) Free Trade Zone Test Area” approved by the State Council, the strategic positioning and development goals are: institutional innovation as the core mission, replicability as the basic requirements, strive to become the highest level platform, pilot area for national reform and opening-up, and live up to the highest standard of free economic zones in the world. After three to five years of reform, Tianjin Free Trade Zone will become a world-class area of free trade, convenient investment, high-end industrial gathering, complete financial services, great legal environment, great regulatory efficiency, and great radiating core. It will play a leading role in the joint development and national economic transformation.
Immediately after the opening of the zone, it launched a list of 122 tasks involving transformation of government functions, investment and trade facilitation, financial reform and innovation, and elements gathering and flow. In October 2015, a second list of 53 tasks was announced, including government services and regulatory innovation, investment facilitation, trade facilitation, financial innovation. The two lists totaled 175 tasks. Through the joint efforts of the city, as of the end of March 2016, 128 of 175 tasks, or 73%, have kicked off. The rest 47 tasks have made substantial progress. In addition, implementation of 90 tasks in the State Council’s “Overall Plan” has been started. As of the end of March 2016, 49, or 54% of the 90 tasks have been completed. Since the establishment of Tianjin Free Trade Zone, as of the end of March 2016, more than 14,000 new market players with a total registered capital of nearly 400 billion CNY were added to the Zone. From January to March of 2016, a total of 2,713 new market players were registered, translating to an increase of 29%; registered capital reached 139.45 billion CNY, an increase of 150%. As of the end of March 2016, a total of 39,960 market players were registered in Tianjin Free Trade Zone, including 2,650 foreign direct investments.
The Central Business Area of Tianjin Free Trade Zone has since 2015 attracted a total of 5,811 enterprises of modern service industry, including 686 companies with registered capital of 50 million CNY or more; 2015 GDP reached 15 billion CNY, doubling that of 2014.
Tianjin Free Trade Zone Airport Area reached GDP of 153 billion CNY in 2015, or an increase of 13.9%; total industrial output exceeded 200 billion CNY, reaching 204.92 billion CNY, up by 11.1%. Investment in fixed assets reached 39.2 billion CNY, or an increase of 15.3%.
In 2015, Tianjin Dongjiang Free Trade Area boasted 441 companies with more than 100 million CNY of registered capital, 296 companies with 50 million to 100 million CNY, and 60.2% of the total registered companies with over 10 million CNY. There are 280 foreign directly invested companies with at least 30 million US dollars of registered capital, the same number of similar companies combined between 2008 and 2014.
