The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) convened its 25th briefing session on issues of major concern on June 25 to introduce the latest progress of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP).

Wan Gang, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, made a speech at the meeting, which was also attended by He Lifeng and Gao Yunlong, both vice-chairmen of the CPPCC National Committee.

In his report to the meeting, Cong Liang, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said a policy and institutional framework for the FTP has been established since the release of the master plan on the Hainan FTP's development on June 1 last year. The next step will focus on accomplishing annual key tasks, further improving the support policy and putting into practice measures necessary to bring the port's development to new heights.

Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce and deputy China International Trade Representative, said that as the basic trade and investment policy system of the Hainan FTP has been forged, new efforts will continue to liberalize and facilitate trade, promote investment, align with international standards, and adopt a holistic approach to ensure development and security.

Progress has also been made in introducing financial measures to support the FTP's development, according to Pan Gongsheng, deputy head of the People's Bank of China. Such measures center on the four areas of cross-border capital flow for investment, opening-up of financial services, financial reform and innovation aimed at shoring up the real economy, and financial risk prevention and control.

Pan added that more efforts will be made to put the policies into practice, strengthen research on risk control in cross-border capital flow and facilitation of trade settlements and accelerate the establishment of a modern financial regulatory system in line with international protocols.

At the meeting, Sun Yuning, vice-minister of the General Administration of Customs of China, outlined the administration's active efforts to promote the port's development, including its support for key projects and risk control. Sun said that among the priorities ahead the administration will expand the duty-free policy for imported products, improve the awareness of customs measures, and speed up the development of a smart platform for customs supervision.

Along with the main venue in Beijing, the meeting also had a parallel session at the CPPCC Hainan Provincial Committee, where Governor of Hainan Feng Fei briefed about the progress in the development of the Hainan FTP. The Chinese ambassador to Singapore and the Chinese consul general in Dubai shared their knowledge about the development of free trade ports in these two localities via video link.

The meeting also included an in-depth exchange of views on many topics, such as the ramifications of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement for FTP policies, the negative list for cross-border trade in services, and performance evaluation of policy enforcement.