Recently, a press conference was held to unveil the latest achievements made in Beijing's "Two Zones" (the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone). As of now, nearly 130 out of the 175 tasks outlined in the plan have been completed, indicating an implementation rate of over 70 percent.
Since the launch of the "Two Zones" initiative, nearly 30,000 projects have been registered, with almost 20,000 already underway, involving a total investment close to CNY 4 trillion. From January to October this year, 8,394 new projects were added to the reserve bank for investment attraction projects of the "Two Zones". Notably, 5,614 projects have been launched, expected to bring in an estimated investment of CNY 864.8 billion.
A number of influential signature projects have been successfully launched this year, including Mastercard Netsunion (a China-based legal entity of Mastercard, the world's second-largest credit card issuer), the China headquarters of Steinbeis (a world-renowned technology transfer network), Eli Lilly China Medical Innovation Center, and the China headquarters of Dewesoft (a world-leading developer of data collection systems).
From January to October, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in Beijing (including those funded by the investors from Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and the Taiwan region) increased by 13.3 percent, surpassing the national average by 1.5 percentage points. In the first three quarters of this year, foreign-invested enterprises above designated size in both the industrial and services sectors saw 3.5 percent year-on-year increases in their revenues, 1.5 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of all the enterprises above designated size in the city. Although these foreign-invested enterprises make up less than 10 percent of all the enterprises above designated size citywide, they contributed over a quarter of the total revenue, playing key roles in ensuring the stable growth of Beijing's economy.
According to the customs data, from January to October, Beijing's total import and export volume reached CNY 2.98 trillion, with imports totaling CNY 2.48 trillion and exports amounting to CNY 505.17 billion - marking the second-highest export figure for the same period in history. Tianzhu Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area each saw the volume of imports and exports exceeding CNY 100 billion, highlighting their crucial roles as open platforms in trade facilitation.
(Source: Beijing Municipal Administrative Center News)
