2026 marks the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Since the beginning of this year, Beijing has been advancing the development of the National Integrated Demonstration Zone for Greater Openness in the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "Two Zones"), setting new heights for opening up through a series of policy innovations.

Beijing released a negative list for cross-border data transfers under the "Two Zones" initiative, and added negative lists for four new sectors: medical devices, autonomous driving (intelligent connected vehicles), trade logistics, and banking. Through a green channel, SPH KDL HEALTH (Beijing) introduced Johnson & Johnson's Impella interventional left ventricular mechanical circulatory support heart pump, known as the world's smallest interventional heart pump, and completed its first clinical application in China.

Beijing established development areas that coordinate with the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone and, together with Tianjin and Hebei, released a list of opportunities for coordinated development across the entire industrial chain. The Tianzhu Comprehensive Bonded Zone built the country's first pilot zone for ensuring the supply of drugs for rare diseases; the Daxing Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone implemented a new customs clearance mechanism marked by "appointment-based inspection" and "immediate inspection upon arrival"; the Yizhuang Comprehensive Bonded Zone saw its front-line import and export value surpassing 10 billion yuan.

The third batch of 12 enterprises was officially recognized as Beijing's Global Service Partners, bringing the city's total number of such enterprises to 37. Beijing also launched the country's first set of bilingual Chinese-English registration application documents and updated its bilingual service guides in parallel.

(Source: Kaifang Beijing)