A few days ago, Tongzhou District held a mobilization and deployment conference for the construction of the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Service Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which marked the initiation of the construction of the "two zones".

As the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, Tongzhou District is poised to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as China's capital, promote the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, and explore a new mode for optimizing and developing densely populated areas. In January 2018, Tongzhou District was approved as one of the second batch of comprehensive pilot regions for the expansion of the opening-up of Beijing's service sector. In January 2019, it was identified as the sole pioneer zone among the four comprehensive pilot zones according to the action plan on further opening up Beijing's service sector approved by the State Council.

Under the guidance of the pioneer zone, the service sector in the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center has been opened up further. The service sector accounted for 50.2% of 2018's GDP, and this share rose to 59% in 2019, an increase of nearly 9 percentage points. The agglomeration of foreign capital and foreign trade has started to take effect, with the actual utilization of foreign capital this year reaching USD 480 million and a total import and export volume of CNY 8.64 billion.

In addition, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center has gathered new industries and models by relying on its core functional areas such as the Canal Business District, the Cultural Tourism Area and the Zhangjiawan Design Town and focusing on serving administration and high-end business, promoting cultural tourism and exploring financial innovation. At the same time, it has been deepening reforms that delegate power, improve regulation, and upgrade services in professional service fields such as government services, investment and trade facilitation, financial environment, talent development and scientific and technological innovation, promoting new breakthroughs in its business environment.

In 2019, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center ranked first in Beijing regarding many business environment indicators, such as government services, credit, innovation and inclusive development. In the first half of 2020, it ranked third in terms of the number of newly established market entities and first in terms of the registered amount and growth rate. At present, the Canal Business District has gathered a number of high-tech enterprises that are aligned with its industrial positioning, and has brought in 70 enterprises in the fields of headquarters economy, finance and scientific and technological innovation. With abundant office buildings at its innovation center, the Zhangjiawan Design Town has gathered over 100 municipality-level enterprises, of which 88 have completed registration.

As the sole pioneer zone of the comprehensive pilot zones for further opening up Beijing's service sector and a key part of the International Business Services Area of the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center will play a pioneering role in the expansion of the opening-up of Beijing’s service industry and in the construction of the International Business Services Area. It will also further drive the transformation from pilot-based and limited institutional innovation to systematic and holistic institutional innovation, exploring more experience that is replicable and scalable for Beijing and even the whole country.

(Note: Content source is from Beijing Daily)