Nation eyes trade opening initiatives

Shanghai FTZ's key tasks ahead include reforms, raising investment

China will step up negotiations on free trade agreements as a move to deepen the country's economic opening and enhance its competitiveness, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Friday.

"China's pilot free trade zone in Shanghai serves primarily as a trial to develop a mechanism that can be applied and generalized in expanding the country's opening-up in the next stage," Gao told a news briefing on the sidelines of the 12th National People's Congress.