Tropical FTZ steps on the innovation pedal

Hainan, China's largest free-trade zone with a high level of opening-up, has made considerable progress in creating a favorable environment for innovation, according to local officials.

They said the improved business environment, better intellectual property protection and diversity in financial products were among the achievements made by the FTZ. It is the 12th such zone since last April when the central government released plans to make the province a pilot FTZ. It will also explore building the area as a free-trade port with Chinese characteristics.

Liu Cigui, Party secretary of Hainan, said institutional innovation is the core task for Hainan in the construction of the pilot FTZ. Through efforts in institutional innovation, Hainan will deepen reform and opening-up and create a business environment characterized by rule of law, internationalization and support.

To vitalize the market, Hainan has simplified the business registration process on its online platform. Verification time has been shortened to just three days. Manual verification is only required for special cases, said Zhang Dongbin, director of the provincial market supervision bureau.

Innovation in financing for intellectual property has also seen progress in Hainan with the island province issuing the country's first intellectual property asset securities late last year. The plan is to raise 470 million yuan ($70 million) of funds. This is considered a new model for the protection of intellectual property rights and a new financing tool for small and medium-sized enterprises.

On Jan 1, the Hainan Free Trade Account was launched to promote financial support. It is a convertible accounting system with renminbi as its base currency, using unified accounting rules and taking into account types of different risk management between RMB and foreign currencies.

Also in January, Hainan set up the country's first trading center for international tropical agricultural products. It aims to build a digital platform to help introduce more tropical agricultural products from Hainan and overseas countries for trading, said an official with Hainan State Farms Investment Holdings Group.

Hainan has made a good start in establishing a well-linked administrative mechanism. It has introduced many headquarters economy-related projects and overseas human resources in boosting further opening-up, said Sun Dahai, deputy secretary-general of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee.

The new policies and measures have attracted a large number of overseas investors, including 27 Fortune Global 500 companies, which have established regional headquarters or business projects in Hainan FTZ.

"Hainan's new open economy system is growing fast and a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up is unfolding in a fast manner," said Sun.