Shanghai’s Pilot Free Trade Zone provides an excellent opportunity for Chilean fruit exporters to promote their products in the Chinese market, according to ProChile's international deputy director Rafael Sabat.
The Pilot Free Trade Zone is a government initiative to encourage market liberalisation and attract foreign investors. Established in 2013, it covers 28.8 km2 of the city, and includes logistics facilities, port and airport. In its first year of operation, exports and imports generated within the enclosure totalled US$122bn. Chile is one of several countries invited to take part in the initiative, which also includes the US, New Zealand, as well as the European Union.
Speaking after the official inauguration of the Chilean Pavilion in the free trade area on 6 May, Rabat said there were more than 100 stands available for companies wishing to take part in the venture.
He pointed out that the pavilion offered exporters a new marketing and trading platform to promote their products in China. “The important thing about this project is that it is a permanent initiative,” he said, adding that its location at the port of Shanghai – the port with the highest cargo throughput in the world – made it ideal for trade not just with continental China but with the whole of Asia.
Following the success of the initiative in Shanghai, the government announced recently that it plans to run pilot free trade zones in Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian and to reform the existing zone in Shanghai.
China is Chile’s main trading partner, with trade between the two countries reaching US$33.93bn in 2014.
