Major indexes were released in Qianhai on April 27, indicating the overall performance of the Qianhai & Shekou Area of the Guangdong (China) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which was established on April 27, 2015.

　　According to the Institute of Free Trade Zones of Sun Yat-sen University, from 2015 to 2017, Qianhai’s the trade facilitation index of the area increased 7.91 percent from 2015 to 2017. Among the five main indicators, the clearance efficiency and trading mode indexes went up 13.46 percent and 13.83 percent, respectively.

　　Mao Yanhua, vice dean of the institute, said in the past years the area has fostered some innovative practices to boost its trading activities. “For instance, Qianhai encourages stores to sell bonded products by exhibiting them first and then selling them through e-commerce platforms. It also promotes the integrated settlement for cross-border export B2B trade,” said Mao. “Also, I’d like to mention that now the goods can be sent to Hong Kong airport directly by trucks, which has substantially saved the costs.”

　　The Qianhai Rule of Law Index was also released. Reported by the Institute of Law of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the index showcases five aspects of the area’s legal environment, namely, rule-making, legal governance, the construction of the judicial system and supervision measures.

　　“We gave 78.42 points (total score is 100) to the area. The best performance of its legal construction is the in rule-making rules. It has a relatively comprehensive legislation system,” said Lu Yanbin, director of the Rule of Law Study of the institute. “The area has formed a professional trial team to provide related services and protect the rights of business entities. Its court, international meditation center and arbitration institution have acted proactively to help entities from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign regions.”

　　Sun Xingping, vice president of East Top, a supply chain company based in Qianhai, said the area has helped companies save cost and time by setting up a central warehouse. “Originally, all components imported from different places around the world have to be gathered in Hong Kong first and then transformed shipped to the mainland. Now they can be directly sent to Qianhai. When arriving at Qianhai, they don’t have to be stored separately in a ‘Hong Kong warehouse,’ a ‘bonded warehouse’ and a ‘nonbonded warehouse.’ Instead, they can be stored in one warehouse, which saved 30 to 50 percent of cost,” Sun said.

　　According to the Qianhai Aauthority, to further improve the investment environment, it has set up 31 more goals to achieve in the near future.

　　At the same day, a tax- related index was also released.

　　By the end of March, a total of 168,600 companies have registered in the area, among them 8,031 companies are owned by Hong Kong investors. The number of Hong Kong residents who are working there reached 1,725. Among the newly made goals, Qianhai is working to spare spaces for those Hong Kong-registered companies to move in.