China’s authorities have completed the arrangement and notified officially of opening a free trade zone. It is Shanghai that has been selected as a testing site for such economic innovations. The country’s government decided to run a large-scale project that was presented to the public back in summer this year. The project suggests that both local and foreign companies registered in Shanghai will be exempted from taxes; it is also supposed to apply the market approach to interest rates determination. Moreover, the government is going to experience free convertibility of the yuan that is considered to be a forced effort amid the economic uncertainty. It took the Chinese authorities several years to launch the free trade zone’s project since such capitalistic innovations were treated as unachievable in a communist state. The coverage of the free trade zone is going to be 29 square kilometers. It contains such important mercantile facilities as Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Yangshan Port. The cooperative efforts of economists and politicians resulted in the plan according to which the free zone’s development is scheduled in several stages that will be brought to life in the nearest ten years. Currently, 36 companies have managed to get business licenses, two thirds of which are entirely foreign-owned companies. In the eyes of China’s government, Shanghai is to become the front-rank site for pilot projects that will be implemented around the whole country in case they prove good results. Earlier, the authorities asserted that foreign telecom firms would be allowed into the free trading zone because it would facilitate the Chinese internet outspread. However, this information has not proved true.
