The Nanning Area of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone

Development goals

In accordance with the overall plan of the autonomous region, the Nanning Area will bring into full play the unique geographical advantage of Nanning and fully implement national development strategies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative to build a pilot free trade zone in three to five years. The zone will have a first-class business environment, provide convenient investment and trade, high-end industry aggregation, improved financial services, deep cultural and educational exchanges, efficient resource allocation, deep market integration, easy and efficient regulation, and a good legal environment. The zone hopes to drive the development of surrounding areas, and through the exploration of reforms and innovation, aims to play a greater role in the high-level opening and high-quality development of the region. The reforms and innovations it introduces will be able to be popularized across the autonomous region to drive innovative development.

Functional orientation

With an area of 46.8 km2, the Nanning Area has four functional areas: modern finance (8.04 km2), digital economy (11.04 km2), culture, sports, and health care (7.91 km2), and processing trade and logistics (19.81 km2) (containing Nanning Comprehensive Bonded Zone with an area of 2.37 km2).

(1) Modern finance. It will be a model in promoting financial openness to the ASEAN, focusing on modern finance, science and technology innovation, information services, and headquarters economy.

(2) Digital economy. It will be an ASEAN-oriented digital economy cluster that focuses on cloud computing, big data, e-commerce, science and technology innovation, smart city, and smart manufacturing.

(3) Culture, sports, and health care. It will serve as a model of Sino-ASEAN cooperation, with people-to-people exchanges that focus on culture and arts, modern media, health care and wellness, and sports.

(4) Processing trade and logistics (containing the Nanning Comprehensive Bonded Zone). This will be an ASEAN-oriented regional advanced manufacturing base and a portal in international land and sea trade. It will focus on strategic emerging industries, export processing, intellectual logistics, cross-border e-commerce, and bonded business.