YBefore Yantai Free Trade Area was approved, there were already 12 pilot free trade zones across the country, which had the advantage of being “early movers”.

Competing with these pacesetters, and with many more free trade areas to be set up, as well as the other 5 pilot free trade zones approved at the same time, not to mention Ji’nan Area and Qingdao Area in the province, how can the Yantai Area "stand out"?

Mu Shuqing, Secretary of the Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of YEDA, and Director of the Administrative Committee of Yantai Free Trade Area, provides the answer: "The role of Yantai Area as defined by the national authorities is to expand China-Japan-ROK regional cooperation and to be a pioneer for China-ROK cooperation in trade and investment. We will direct all or attention to this target to serve the national strategy." Yantai Area requires precise positioning to forge ahead and use its strengths to attract more emerging businesses and industries.

Implementing decisions requires resolute action. With a clear positioning, Yantai Free Trade Area is moving up through the gears. China-ROK (Yantai) Industrial Park is major advantage. Within the Park, “Two Countries, Twin Parks”—a joint development scheme with industrial chain cooperation as its core—will be a feature. It will also support the development of China-ROK Technology and Innovation Incubation Base, implement shared standardization between China-ROK, and facilitate reciprocal trade between China, Japan and the ROK.

Forging Ahead with Determination and Achieving Fruitful Results.

On April 3, Yantai Area signed a contract online with Onnuri Law Firm, a Korean legal entity. It is the first foreign law firm to enter Yantai Area.

On April 9, Shandong Province’s first wholly Korean-owned vocational training institute arrived in Yantai Area. Yantai Area was the first to release new measures for wholly foreign-owned vocational training institutes in the country. These include allowing direct applications from natural persons, and accepting applications at any stages even when materials are not yet complete.

Area statistics shows that over the past year, newly settled Korean-funded projects in Yantai Area have more than doubled on a year-on-year base, making Yantai Area one of the regions with the highest concentration of Korean enterprises in China.

At the same time, the China-Japan Industrial Park has been launched, with the phase one area covering 2.7 square kilometers. The Park focuses on new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, and modern service industries such as global testing, cross-border sales, and international settlements. There are more than 20 foreign enterprises in the Park representing accumulated actual utilization of foreign capital of about 600 million US dollars.

In addition to geographical advantages, marine economy is another advantage of Yantai Area.

Focusing on "building a modern marine industry base" and seeking a greater breakthrough in "marine economy", Yantai Area has offered several unexampled initiatives in China such as the establishment of a modern base for introducing and transferring marine germplasm resources, “comprehensive conservation” for marine biological resources through coordinated cooperation among the government, business, society and research institutions, the standardization of risk assessment for ocean ranch financing, etc.

This April, Yantai Jinghai Marine Fishery Co., Ltd., with an investment of over 10 billion RMB yuan and CIMC, a Fortune China Top 500 company as one of its investors, officially settled down in Yantai Free Trade Area. The company, taking the approach of “manufacturing+service” of offshore equipment, is to establish the largest industrialized marine aquaculture base in Asia.