The Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Nansha Area of Guangzhou continues to reduce red tape and pioneer convenient services for businesses, with 13 of its innovations promoted nationwide only two years after its establishment.

Nansha is Guangzhou's only gateway to the sea and the geographical center of the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The district's FTZ was designed to deliver the highest level of convenience to accompany China's most favorable trade policies.

The China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Nansha Area of Guangzhou [Photo/Xinhua]

The FTZ has become the best of its kind with respect to institutional innovations implementation in the last two years, according to a paper published by the FTZ research college at Sun Yat-sen University last year.

A total of 487 foreign-invested enterprises have set up in the zone thanks to its convenient online procedures. All have passed examination and review through the "Negative List" management system, where they are subject to investment laws and regulations.

The Internet Plus model has not only applied to market entry administrative services, but has also played a big part in customs services, helping to establish many firsts in the nation.

The container terminal at Nansha port is busy with cargo transports. [Photo/Xinhua]

Enterprises can go through customs clearance online and inspection equipment is also used on-site to provide quick services. According to statistics, it takes 15.9 hours for import and 1.09 hours for export customs clearances at Nansha port, reducing processing times by approximately 40 percent.

In addition to the self-service online customs system, pricing reforms have also benefited Nansha enterprises, saving about 32 million yuan ($4.6 million).

According to the Nansha Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the intelligent port system has significantly increased efficiency from registration to traceability. It processes data 370,000 times daily on average, saving five million hours and more than 50 million yuan for enterprises.

A startup owner obtains a business license. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

"Nansha has seen great progress over these two years and ha taken the lead in investment and trade conveniences," said Professor Sun Yuanxin of the FTZ research institute at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. "There is still vast space for development and the deepening of reforms."