Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone plays an important role in radiating its influence over North China’s economic development

Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone was established in May 1991. It has functions of international trade, modern logistics, port processing and marketing of goods. It enjoys preferential customs and foreign exchange policies and is an important economic and functional area and the largest Free Trade Zone in North China. In order to meet the needs of the development and opening of Binhai New Area, Airport Economic Zone was established in 2002 and has become an open area highlighting comprehensive advantages and policies. Over the years, Free Trade Zone and Airport Economic Zone have exerted their functional and positional advantages, thanks to their proximity to the airport and the sea port. Relying on the “Three North” vast hinterland, they strived to build an integrated and diversified economic functional area serving bonded international logistics and air freight in North China.

In 2015, the bonded area welcomed 4,761 new market players. 21 domestic and overseas banks set up branches in the Free Trade Zone. More than 90 key projects of various types from Beijing and Hebei Province settled in the zone. The number of projects invested by Fortune 500 companies reached 57. A number of headquarters and production base projects accelerated the aggregation in the zone. In 2015, Free Trade Zone introduced Airbus A330, Bombardier business jet maintenance and Tianjin aviation maintenance centers. It also attracted Hua Yun Financial Leasing, Bohai Steel Financials and other big institutions. Ping An, China Merchants, HSBC and other 21 domestic and overseas banks set up branches in the Free Trade Zone, very efficiently supporting the brick-and-mortar economy. Sinomach Automobile, Beiqi Automobile Trade, Shanghai Yongda, Haitao Cars and other enterprises have settled down. Staples online from the United States and a US used car online division settled down. Jingdong cross-border e-commerce, eLong and other projects have signed contacts to settle. DHL Tianjin Branch, Russian-speed Express and Shunlusuyun have settled down. More than 90 projects from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province have settled down, including China Aluminum International Logistics, China Silk Food Import-export Settlement Center, with a total investment of over 11 billion CNY. In 2015, the number of the region’s new market players grew by 86.7%; registered capital reached 76.49 billion CNY, or an increase of 150.9%. The investment came from 57 Fortune 500 investment projects, 15 China 500 investment projects and 245 industry leaders’ projects. The actual use of foreign capital reached 4 billion US dollars, or up 11%; domestic investment reached 20.9 billion CNY, or an increase of 16%.

In 2016, the Free Trade Zone will concentrate on five things: manufacturing industry chain, headquarters projects, cross-border e-commerce, finance & trade, and scientific and technological innovation. Led by big and good projects, full industrial chain bidding process will begin, filling the missing links in between. In the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, we will strive to create three one hundred billion CNY industry clusters, which include civil aviation, high-end equipment manufacturing and fast moving consumer goods. New information technology and biomedical industry will become two leading industries, output of which will achieve over 30 billion CNY and 20 billion CNY, respectively.

On introduction of headquarters projects, the bonded area will make a “bidder list”, aiming at the central government controlled corporate headquarters or Beijing government controlled corporate headquarters. Priority will be given to 2nd and 3rd tier corporate headquarters. The goal in 2016 is to introduce at least three headquarters projects. At the same time, we’ll make full use of cross-border e-commerce pilot policy to construct a cluster of e-commerce in North China. It is projected that by 2020, e-commerce trade volume will exceed 50 billion CNY. In 2016, Free Trade Zone will focus on leasing, factoring and other formats to continue to consolidate the financial results of the investments. The zone will also aim at high-tech projects such as “Internet +”. It will strive to introduce 50“little giants” and 500 SMEs.