Free trade zone sees huge investment

The name plate of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone on a gate of the Waigaoqiao free trade zone in Shanghai. ZHAO YUN / FOR CHINA DAILY

China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has seen foreign investment surge after a negative list was initiated last October, said a senior official on Tuesday.

Some 207 foreign-capital companies were launched in the zone last month, seven times the monthly number in October, said Zhu Min, deputy director of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration.

Data showed that since the list was issued, 1,240 foreign-capital companies, 8.6 times the figure over the same period last year, had registered by the end of June, Zhu said.

Those companies have generated registered capital of more than $7.3 billion, four times the same period last year.

The negative list comprised a range of clauses marking forbidden areas to new foreign entrants, of which a majority of 92 percent are not restricted by the list.

Among the new entrants, who came from 60 countries and regions, some 57 percent are involved in the commercial service industry while about a third provide professional services.