HAIKOU /China/, November 1. /Correspondent to TASS Nikolay Selishchev/. One of South China’s Hainan key tasks to stimulate economic growth is optimizing its foreign trade strategy and closing all local customs offices by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), Chi Fulin, director of the China Institute of Reform and Development (Hainan), told TASS on Monday.

"At the same time, the most pressing problem for Hainan is to [effectively] close customs offices by 2025 in such a way so as to ensure [firm] control over the process of strengthening foreign trade," he said.

In order to achieve this goal, the province's competent agencies must pay close attention to both key and secondary growth factors, according to the expert. "At the same time, Hainan plans to establish contacts with other free trade ports," said Chi Fulin. "We are assisting the Hainan administration in organizing the Boao Forum of Asian, a global event on free trade ports, which is scheduled for next year. It will be attended by those who are [directly] related to the relevant issues."

He noted, that by doing so the Chinese authorities will be able to draw the attention of even more members of the international public and the business community to Hainan. "We also expect to gradually engage more researchers interested in the Hainan Free Trade Port," the expert added.

He noted that the Reform and Development Institute intends to invite experts from the European Union and other countries to work on the island because of the need to study issues concerning the successful creation of this Chinese free trade port. "I believe that Hainan's openness will increase," he concluded.

In January, the provincial administration announced that by 2025, all local customs border checkpoints will cease to operate in their current mode. According to Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Hainan Party Committee, the necessary conditions will be in place by 2023, and the authorities then plan to agree on the secondary details of the new mechanism within two years. In about three years, all island residents will be categorized as offshore residents with a special legal status different from all other mainland Chinese citizens.