China to create third batch of Free Trade Zones

China will replicate its success in the seven new free trade zones across the nation, a government official said on Friday.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said at a news conference that commerce and other government branches are preparing for establishing a third group of FTZs.

"We will replicate the success of the previous four trials in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Fujian in the new ones, such as the introduction of a negative list and simplified trade procedures," Wang said.

For instance, the free trade zones reduced the amount of time foreign investors need to establish a company.

90 percent of the foreign-invested enterprises, according to Wang, spend one to three working days for these proceedings. In the past, it took about 21 working days. And the number of required documents was reduced from 10 to three.

The State Council urged related branches to learn from the successful experience of running the existing FTZs, in order to guide their work in the next step, according to an official announcement on Thursday.

In August, the government gave the green light to seven new FTZs, including Liaoning province, Zhejiang province, Henan province, Hubei province, Sichuan province, Shaanxi province and Chongqing municipality.