HAIKOU, April 12. /TASS/. More than 260 employees of embassies and consulates general in China visited Hainan in 2020 after the publication of the program for Hainan's free trade port, reported the Hainan Daily.
This is an "unprecedented" number of diplomats in the history of Hainan's development, the report points out, and demonstrates the great attractiveness of the free port. The newspaper also notes that in 2020 diplomats from more than 37 countries, including ambassadors to China, visited the Qiongzhou region in the east of the province, the highest since the island's special economic zone was established in 1988.
According to Wang Sheng, head of the international relations department of the Provincial Party Committee, thanks to the ongoing policy of openness and the construction of the free trade port, Hainan "gave a powerful signal to the entire international community." "In the future, we will not only continue to promote the innovative development and foreign trade activities of the province, but we will also enhance the island's openness and open the doors of Hainan to the whole world," he 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.