In September 2020, Beijing shouldered the mission of building the national integrated demonstration zone for greater openness in the services sector and the Pilot Free Trade Zone. 

Currently, over half of the 251 task lists for the "Two Zones" have been implemented.

As a pneumatic component R&D, manufacturing, and sales company, the Japanese company SMC established its first overseas regional headquarters in Beijing E-Town after the launch of Beijing's "Two Zones district" construction.

"With the support of the local government, our settlement progressed smoothly. It only took three hours from the State Administration for Market Regulation to obtain the company name approval to get the company business license," a staff member of SMC noted.

The headquarters will be responsible for the management and operation of investment, manufacturing, R&D, and sales of five legal entities in China, ending the history of direct management by the Japanese head office, and accelerating investment in the Chinese market.

Officials of the Beijing municipal government mentioned that the pioneering achievements of the "Two Zones" are springing up; 30 nationally pioneered or first breakthrough policies and projects have been formed since 2020. 

Fiscal and tax policies such as technology and equity transfer income tax concessions for venture capital companies have been implemented first. 

Multinational companies completed the first pilot of the integrated domestic and foreign currency fund pools, and the overseas professional qualification recognition system has achieved breakthroughs in multiple industries.

From January to February this year, Beijing's level of foreign investment showed a substantial increase. 

There were 224 newly established foreign-funded enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 25.1 percent; contractual foreign investment reached $6.61 billion, a year-on-year 1.5 fold increase; and actual use of foreign capital amounted to $2.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.7 percent.