China working on building free trade ports

BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce is working on the building of free trade ports in China's free trade zones (FTZs), a spokesman said Thursday.

China will grant more power to pilot free trade zones and explore the opening of free trade ports, according to a key report delivered last week at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

The ministry should "follow higher standards and push for more comprehensive and deeper opening up," spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference Thursday.

"The ministry is currently working with Shanghai Municipality and other departments on making the plan [for building free trade ports]," Gao said.

The Shanghai FTZ will build a top-level free trade port and implement trade supervision regulations in accordance with higher standards, according to a document made public in March by the State Council.

The FTZ in East China's Zhejiang province also aims to build a high-standard pilot free trade port to push international commodity trade liberalization with a focus on oil products.