China News Service, Haikou, June 20 (Reporter Wang Ziqian) The Office of the Free Trade Port Working Committee of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China held a press conference on the 20th to announce the "White Paper on Hainan Free Trade Port Construction (2021)" (referred to as the "White Paper") .

Over the past year, the key core policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port have been implemented, and early gains have been made in the construction of the port.

  The "White Paper" introduced 135 key policy documents related to the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port.

In order to optimize the business environment, Hainan has issued 12 batches of 116 cases of institutional innovation.

  The "White Paper" focuses on introducing the "Hainan Freedom" from 11 aspects such as trade freedom and convenience, investment freedom and convenience, free and convenient cross-border capital flow, free and convenient personnel entry and exit, free and convenient transportation, safe and orderly flow of data, taxation system, and risk prevention and control. Implementation of the Overall Plan for the Construction of a Trading Port.

  In terms of trade freedom and convenience, the Yangpu Bonded Port Area has tried out a “first-line liberalization and second-line control” cargo entry and exit management system.

Hainan has built a high-standard China (Hainan) international trade "single window", and the overall customs clearance time has been reduced by half compared with 2017.

  In terms of investment freedom and convenience, the Hainan Free Trade Port has the shortest foreign investment negative list in the country.

In 2020, the actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$3 billion, doubling for three consecutive years.

In the first quarter of 2021, the actual use of foreign capital was US$560 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.3 times.

  In terms of the freedom and convenience of cross-border capital flow, Hainan’s QFLP (Qualified Foreign Limited Partners) and QDLP (Qualified Domestic Limited Partners) pilot policies have been implemented, which is conducive to foreign cooperation and investment by enterprises.

Hainan promotes the construction of various types of trading venues, and 4 trading centers for international energy, tropical agricultural products, intellectual property, and international assets have opened.

  In terms of the freedom and convenience of personnel entry and exit, Hainan has implemented a more open residence and residence policy for foreign talents, attracting talents from outside the island to settle down.

In the past year, a total of 168,000 talents were introduced, a year-on-year increase of 425%.

  With regard to the freedom and convenience of transportation, Hainan has established the "China Yangpu Port" registry port, established an international ship registration system, and implemented a more open ship transportation policy. In the past year, 29 new international ship registrations have been added.

In the aviation sector, the seventh freedom rights of passenger and cargo transportation will be opened.

  For the safe and orderly flow of data, the Hainan Free Trade Port’s dedicated Internet data channel has been officially opened, reducing the average latency to Southeast Asia by 44%.

The Hainan Free Trade Port's first Hainan-Hong Kong international submarine cable project is expected to be completed and commercialized in June.

  In terms of the taxation system, the "zero tariff" policy for some imported commodities in the Hainan Free Trade Port has been successively introduced and implemented.

The three lists of raw and auxiliary materials, vehicles, yachts, and production equipment in the "one negative and three positive" zero tariff lists and their supporting customs supervision measures have been promulgated and implemented.

  The construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port can only be "opened up" if it can be managed.

According to the "White Paper", Hainan has made systematic arrangements for risk prevention in the fields of trade, investment, finance, taxation, real estate, data flow, and ecological environment in the past year.

  Wang Lei, deputy secretary-general of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and executive deputy director of the Provincial Party Committee's Deep Reform Office (Office of the Free Trade Port Working Committee), said that Hainan will advance its free trade step by step in accordance with the three time nodes of 2025, 2035 and mid-century. Port construction stabilizes market expectations.

  Shi Zongwei, Director of Haikou Customs, said that the next step for the Customs is to promote the construction of the "second-line" port infrastructure and supervision facilities of the Free Trade Port in preparation for the island's customs closure.

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