Shanghai free trade zone IBUonline is a B2B foreign trade platform which has helped many China suppliers

and international buyers to complete foreign trade. IBU is caring about Shanghai free trade zone since IBU can find more business partners, such as suppliers and buyers or logistics companies. Shanghai spearheaded Chinas move to integrate its economy with global markets after the country adopted an opening-up policy in the 1980s. Exports and imports were to be the key gauge of the economic success of the move, and one of the major growth drivers of the economy. A free-trade zone, into which goods can be imported, processed, and then re-exported without custom duties, will help achieve this objective. Yan Jun, chief economist of the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, told reporters recently that a free-trade zone would do more than offer a series of preferential policies. Instead, a series of bold reforms would be carried out on the comprehensive platform aimed at facilitating investments and trade. But the central government has yet to publish a detailed guideline on the operation of the free-trade zone in Shanghai. Lingering questions remain about the policymaking, said Wang Xuefeng, a professor at Shanghai Maritime University. The guidelines governing the operations of the zone will determine its future size and scale. From what is known Shanghai will initially upgrade three existing bonded areas into a free-trade zone. The ultimate aim of officials is to expand the zone to a larger scale and establish a trading, shipping, and financial centre in Shanghai to rival Hong Kong. Shanghai Communist Party boss Han Zheng told a government conference that the free-trade zone would be the priority for the local government in the second half of this year. Shanghai is desperate to find a new growth engine, and the top city officials want to bet on the free-trade zone to pursue fast growth, said a government official who declined to be identified. The city has lost its edge in manufacturing, and the efforts to transform itself into a financial centre have so far proved unsuccessful. To attract foreign capital and domestic investors to establish manufacturing facilities in the new free-trade zone, the city has to earmark a vast area while ensuring the land costs are reasonable, economists said. The Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information said the city was under pressure to chase industrial output growth since an increasing number of manufacturers were relocating their production lines to other parts of the country due to the higher land and labor costs. The outlook for the free-trade zone doesnt seem bright, said Xiong Hao, an assistant general manager of Shanghai Jump International Shipping. If land supply for manufacturers is limited, and there are not enough reductions in regulations to bolster shipping, finance, and commerce inside the zone, it would be of little help to the city.

IBU said that the free-trade zone in Shanghai would be only on a trial basis. If history is a guide, in China, a trial run means the government will take only small steps at first too small to be effective. IBUonline is planning to cooperate with some logistics companies in Shanghai free trade zone, as well as importers and exporters in the free trade zone.