On the morning of July 25, 2018, the seminar for the strategic program of Xi’an on the “Study on the Path and Countermeasures of Building Inland Free Trade Port in Xi'an"led by professor Zhu Zhengwei from the School of Public Policy and Administration of XJTU, was held in Xi'an Jianguo Hotel. The major task of this seminar is conclusion evaluation of the project "Research on the Construction Path and Related Countermeasures of the Inland Free Trade Port in Xi'an".
Presided over by the deputy director of Xi’an Commerce Bureau Ma Xiaoqin, this seminar invited many experts for project result evaluation, including Du Guochen, deputy director the Ministry of Commerce International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute, professor Zhang Xiangjian of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Free Trade Pilot Zone Research Institute, Fu Zhengping, executive vice president of the Sun Yat-sen University Free Trade Zone Research Institute, Chen Peng, general secretary of the Shenzhen Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research, Ran Hongbin, deputy director of the Xi’an Development and Reform Commission, Yang Jin, director of the Department of Balance of Payments of People's Bank of China Xi'an Branch, and Li Gaoying, deputy director of Xi’an Customs Reform Office. Representatives from Xi’an Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Xi’an Municipal Investment Commission, Xi’an Municipal Finance Office, Xi’an Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, TV, Press and Publication, Xi’an Customs District P. R. China, Xi’an Office of Free Trade, Xixian New Area Management Committee, Xi’an International Trade & Logistics Park Management Committee and other relevant departments also attended the seminar.
Ma Xiaoqin, deputy director of the Xi’an Municipal Bureau of Commerce, highly affirmed in his speech the outstanding contribution of the research team led by professor Zhu Zhengwei in the application for constructing the inland free trade port in Xi'an. He expressed his that the research team would continue to carry out in-depth studies on the construction of inland free trade port in Xi'an with all efforts.
Professor Zhu Zhengwei, the chief expert of the research group, systematically introduced the research results of the inland port construction, covering the significance, advantages and disadvantages, domestic and foreign experience, construction target, function orientation, promotion path and safeguard measures. Professor Zhu pointed out that the inland free trade port construction in Xi’an should follow the national strategy, explore the path for coordinated development of inland free trade port group, constructing a free trade zone with "land port + airport" dual driving force, and convenience to cross-border investment, trade, finance and talent development. An opening pattern featured with Xi'an as the strategic axis, combining joint development of land and sea as well as economic interaction between east and west was formed, aiming at establishing a new inland open economic system with international demonstration and reference value. A functional orientation of "four hubs - two platforms - two engines" should be firmly grasped in the construction of the inland free trade port of Xi'an, namely, an investment service hub, a silk road trade hub, a featured financial hub and a distribution hub of wisdom source; a industrial energization platform integrating various resources, a three-dimensional logistics gathering and distribution platform for "four flows integration (business flow, material flow, capital flow and information flow)"; a strengthened open gateway engine for "Belt And Road" exchanges, and a national central city construction engine for improving regional radiation capacity.
Based on the report from professor Zhu, all experts expressed their opinions on the path and countermeasures in constructing inland free trade port of Xi'an.
Professor Fu Zhengping believes that the unique advantage of Xi’an in constructing free trade port should be further clarified. He suggested to make breakthroughs in terms of education, science and technology, culture, tourism, cultural creativity and other aspects, and to explore a unique construction path with Xi’an characteristics by referring to the free trade port construction plan of Hainan Province,.
According to professor Zhang Xiangjian, Xi'an inland free trade port should focus on a target regional advantage, develop characteristic industries and finance based on the market conditions in the west China, and build a matched system, instead of creating industrial clusters in development zones.
Du Guochen proposed three points on studies of free trade port: the relationship between the construction orientation of free trade port and national strategy, the relationship between the pilot free trade zone and the free trade port, the relationship between the free trade port and the special customs supervision zone. He also suggested that the construction of Xi’an inland free trade port could start by seeking breakthroughs in a certain field, and then gradually move forward in stages.
In the opinion of Chen Peng, the construction of free trade port should focus on the pertinence and innovation of policy and measures, compacting policy demands with more core competitiveness, so as to improve the operability of the construction scheme. On the basis of focusing on Xi’an regional characteristics, more efforts will be made to win over various favorable policies to promote the development of high-end industries and attract the headquarters of enterprises settlement in Xi'an.
Other participating units also highly affirmed the scientific value and reality reference significance of the research results as well as the rigorous and cooperative spirit of the research team. Furthermore, constructive suggestions were put forward from the aspects of the overall framework design of the final report, the operability of policy recommendations and the pertinence of path planning.
In closing, based on the evaluation results of each expert, the deputy director of the Xi’an Municipal Bureau of Commerce Ma Xiaoqin officially announced the conclusion of the study on "The Construction Path and Related Countermeasures of the Inland Free Trade Port in Xi'an ". Professor Zhu Zhengwei, the chief expert of the research group, expressed his sincere thanks to the experts for their valuable suggestions, and said that the research group would further improve the research result in accordance with the above suggestions, so as to better achieving the research objectives and making more contribution to the construction of the inland free trade port with Xi’an characteristics.
