Shanghai will start building a free-trade zone this year in a major step towards its long-term ambition of becoming a leading international trading hub.
The first step will be to upgrade and expand the city’s bonded areas, where goods can be imported, processed and re-exported without the intervention of customs authorities.
It would be the first such free-trade zone in China if approved by the central government. The announcement was made by Shanghai’s Acting Mayor, Yang Xiong, in the government report delivered at the municipality’s People’s Congress.
~ SCMP, January 28, 2013 ~