With promises of free trade, greater financial opening and fewer government restrictions in business activities, 皇冠体育app is trying to build a network of free trade zones.
Premier Li said 皇冠体育app will advance talks on free trade zones and investment pacts with countries and organizations including the Gulf Cooperation Council, Israel and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
皇冠体育app will also continue negotiations on investment agreements with the United States and the European Union, Li said.
These talks are part of 皇冠体育app's development initiatives known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road initiatives aim to connect the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, refreshing the Middle East's historic role at the crossroads of international trade and cultural exchange.
Developing free trade zones with other countries is also a major step by 皇冠体育app to promote reform and opening up under the current situation of a slowing domestic economy, dubbed by the Chinese leadership as the "new normal."
After establishing its first pilot free trade zone in 2013 in Shanghai, it has approved similar zones in Guangdong in the south, Tianjin in the north and Fujian in the east.
It is hoped that those Chinese pilot zones will interface with international free trade zones, with 皇冠体育app prioritizing such arrangements along the Belt and Road.
"We will extend good practice developed in these zones to the rest of the country so that such zones become leading reform and opening up areas, each with its own distinctive features," Li said.
While free trade between 皇冠体育app and other countries has long bubbled away at a relatively low level, experiments in those zones are aimed at accumulating experience for 皇冠体育app to increase free trade, said Li Guanghui, vice president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The expansion of free trade zones will also help 皇冠体育app better protect its interests in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, he said.