HAIKOU, January 25. /TASS/. The Hainan government as part of the creation of a free port zone in the region intends to complete preparations for the closure of customs checkpoints located there by the end of 2024, Hainan's Acting Governor Feng Fei said during the session of the People's Congress. 

"During the 14th five-year plan (2021-2025), Hainan Province will complete the preliminary stages of a free port. We will fulfill the tasks corresponding to the first stage of setting up a free port, we will strive to create the necessary conditions for the closure of customs points by the end of 2023," he said reporting on the work of the regional government.

"By the end of 2024, we will complete preparations for the closure of customs," the head of government added.

In April 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of Hainan's project to build a pilot free trade zone. According to the authorities' plan, the creation of a pilot zone will give impetus to the processes of globalization of the island's economy and increase the attractiveness of the Chinese province for foreign investors. It is expected that by 2050 Hainan will become a unique international cluster with an advanced economic system, which includes a free trade zone, campuses of the best universities, the most modern scientific laboratories and the headquarters of world corporations.

On June 1, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council published the General Development Program for Hainan's Free Trade Port, according to which an effective mechanism to stimulate sustainable and long-term growth should be finally formed in Hainan by 2025. It is expected that thanks to new methods, many of which are being introduced in China for the first time, the province will be able to fulfill a number of key socio-economic tasks necessary to form a powerful financial and economic center in the country’s south. It is assumed that by 2035 both the economic and innovative potential of this region will be maximized, and it will become one of the most attractive places for international investors.