China’s Ministry of Commerce recently released the Overall Plan for Building National Demonstration Zones for the Innovative Development of Trade in Services. According to the plan, 16 cities and Hainan Province will take the lead in building such demonstration zones. Qingdao stands out as the only city in Shandong Province that makes the list.

“The inclusion of Qingdao in this initiative will present an important period of strategic opportunity for Qingdao to keep up with the evolving dynamics of global trade and to seek trade growth. This will help the city to unleash potential for the development of trade in services at deeper levels and in broader dimensions.” According to a person in charge of the municipal bureau of commerce, Qingdao is sticking to the overall requirements to press ahead with the formulation of an implementation plan for building such a demonstration zone among other things. Based on Qingdao’s realities, the implementation plan will highlight the city’s strength in the port and shipping sector, place emphasis on the innovative development of trade in services and opening-up, facilitate institutional opening-up and cultivation of new commercial activities in a systemic way, explore a number of new exemplary examples such as cross-trade data flows, digital content going global, coordination between trade in services and trade in goods. It is aimed at providing more practices that can be transferred elsewhere in moving forward the initiative for promoting innovative development of trade in services across the country, and making significant headway in trade in services.  (Liu Lanxing)

With a focus on its competitive port and shipping sector, Qingdao draws up a plan for building the demonstration zone.