México y Japón firman el Protocolo Modificatorio del Acuerdo para el Fortalecimiento de la asociación económica (AAE)

The establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (SFTZ) as the first free trade zone in China marks a milestone for China’s economic reforms and the strategy of opening up the domestic market.

SFTZ will pilot a new model that will not only open up the local economy, but also reform trade and investment administration systems.

SFTZ will promote the development of new business and trade options available to offshore companies, for example international trade settlement

international bulk commodities transactions

financial leasing

bonded delivery of futures

cross-border e-commerce

and a regional shipping hub.

Over the next three years the Chinese government will keep refining the policies and measures implemented in and, by the end of the third year, the model could be replicated and rolled out to the other parts of the country.

An overall Framework Plan was released in September containing some general measures, with more implementation details being released in the first quarter of 2014, and full implementation scheduled to be carried out later in the year.