国内英语资讯:Economic Watch: From coast to inland: pilot FTZs advancing Chinas opening-up and reform_时事

国内英语资讯:Economic Watch: From coast to inland: pilot FTZs advancing Chinas opening-up and reform

Close to Shanghai, Zhejiang pilot FTZ aims to foster the oil and gas business amid the country's rising demand for oil and natural gas.

Connecting a wide range of regions across the Pacific, Zhejiang shows strong geographical advantages in establishing an oil and gas base, according to the National Energy Administration.

Zhejiang pilot FTZ saw transactions of 161.4 billion yuan (about 23.39 billion U.S. dollars) of oil products and 1.23 million tonnes of natural gas in the first nine months of 2018.

South China's Guangdong Province, where the special economic zones led the reform and opening-up of China 40 years ago, is also a pioneer of FTZ experiment.

As China pushes forward the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangdong pilot FTZ plays an important role in promoting coordinated development of the three regions.

Through reforming the tax system, Guangdong pilot FTZ has reduced 3.5 billion yuan and 15 million yuan of tax for eligible enterprises of Hong Kong and Macao since 2017, respectively.

Unlike the earlier reforms where the eastern coast stole the show, in this new round of reform, inland provinces have been actively engaged. In 2017, five inland provincial regions, all major transportation hubs in the framework of Belt and Road Initiative, jumped on the wagon in an effort to promote the country's undeveloped interior and facilitate the Belt and Road Initiative.