LONDON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from business associations and enterprises in the United Kingdom (UK) have expressed their strong interest and unwavering confidence in China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP).

 

Speaking at a promotion conference of Hainan FTP held here on Friday, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Zheng Zeguang highlighted that building Hainan FTP is a national strategy and a great number of breakthroughs have been made.

 

In June 2020, China released a master plan to build the whole of Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, into a globally influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

 

Three years on, with a slew of favorable policies taking effect and continuous opening up, Hainan has gained a strong momentum of development and is making great strides towards becoming a free trade port with world influence.

 

Zheng stressed that the central government will accelerate the FTP development and bring the potential of this pilot platform into full play. He called on the British business community to seize the opportunities and actively participate in the development of this new mega-port.

 

Sherard Cowper-Coles, chair of the China-Britain Business Council, underlined that Hainan serves as the gateway to southern China and the entire nation. "Hainan is an area where there's plenty of experimentation and plenty of innovation. We hope we can now take it to a new level," he said.

 

Cowper-Coles also reiterated the importance of trade and economic relations between the two countries. China is a major trading partner of Britain, and it is in Britain's economic interest to deepen engagement with China, he added.

 

Giles Williams, managing director of Brooke House College, signed a memorandum of understanding with Hainan's Sanya Investment Promotion Bureau. "Hainan has such an open, engaging and warm welcoming business community. Hopefully, we will be able to establish a strong commercial link in this very supportive environment," said Williams.

 

Official data showed the rapid development of the import and export of goods at the Hainan FTP in recent years. After exceeding 100 billion yuan (14 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, the total volume of trade in goods exceeded 200 billion yuan in 2022, with an annual growth rate of 36.8 percent.

 

During the promotion conference, Hainan officials pledged to further open up to the world and introduced a series of policies related to tariffs, taxes, visas, and more.

 

Amanda Unsworth, managing director of Trinity Logistics Limited, told Xinhua she has learned much more about Hainan after the conference. "The opportunity in Hainan is fantastic and I can't wait to get up there," said Unsworth.

 

Zhang Bin, director of the Department of Commerce of Hainan Province, said: "We have seen a huge amount of conversations and exchanges following the conference, and we have received highly positive feedback from our audience. This further strengthens our confidence in the future development of the free trade port." (1 yuan = 0.14 U.S. dollar)