New policy blazes new fields of opening-up in Kunming FTZ

"As of January 2018, ten firms were registered in Kunming Free Trade Zone (FTZ), of which five have started the import and export businesses," said Liu Yan, staff member with Kunming Customs.

Liu noted new tax policies and improved services in finance and foreign trade are major factors to draw in businesses. From May to December 2017, foreign trade in the zone reached 9.61 million U.S. dollars, with 6,878-ton international goods served.

At the Yunnan Eastern Flight Training Company, trainees were practising responding to extreme weather in several flight simulators. "Since 2015, we have provided training for 18 airlines, and more than 3,000 were trained in 2017.” Yu Da, deputy general manager of the company, said. 

"Our flight simulators and the maintenance materials are mostly imported, and each simulator costs us over ten million US dollars," said Ouyang Suhui, general manager of the Yunnan company.

Thanks to the new favorable policies, the company’s tariff is either exempted or reduced. 

Besides favorable taxes and improved services, the Kunming FTZ has been putting efforts in policy innovation, including the policy of temporary storage for non-bonded cargoes. 

At the Yunnan Inland International Logistics Company in Kunming FTZ, a sea of 3,694 new-energy cars were temporarily stored, forming an eye-catching sight. The cars are made by the Beijing Automotive Group Company (BAIC Group). 

Li Yang, a salesman with the logistics company, said such temporary car storage is based on a policy innovation of Kunming FTZ in December 2017, when the stored goods were classified and served differently.

Since May 2017, the Kunming FTZ introduced six innovative measures. "The storage costs at the checkpoints are very high, and in each deal the FTZ storage can save 5000-6000 yuan for our customers." Li Yang said, adding delays at the port are avoided.

In addition, the cargo trucks now can pass the Kunming FTZ checkpoint within a few seconds thanks to a smart managing system.

In the near future, HNA Group, Uni-Top Group and Yunnan Baiyao will also get registered at the Kunming FTZ.

With an area of two square kilometers, the Kunming FTZ passed China national acceptance check in May 2017.

Reporting by Liu Ziyu and Li Wenjun; trans-editing by Wang Shixue