An aerial photo of the Wuhan Area of the China (Hubei) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ). [Photo/Optics Valley of China]

The third China Pilot Free Trade Zone (Wuhan) Development Forum kicked off on Dec 2 at East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China or OVC), Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province.

The event was attended by officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Department of Commerce of Hubei Province, Wuhan municipal people's government, and Optics Valley of China, and was themed on trade facilitation against the backdrop of the dual-circulation development paradigm.

An import and export enterprise service alliance was established during the forum, encouraging industry insiders, scholars, and entrepreneurs to render their insights into the construction blueprint of the Wuhan Area of the China (Hubei) FTZ.

Liu Jie, director of OVC's administrative committee, recollected the four years that since the zone was launched in the Wuhan Area of the China (Hubei) Pilot FTZ. It has made more than 200 reform achievements and has ranked highly in the nation for four years in a row for its institutional innovation.

The "optics, IC, displays, terminals, and internet" cluster has also been strengthened, with over 500 core enterprises above a designated size and an industrial scale of 500 billion yuan ($78.45 billion), especially the bio-medicine sector, which has been leading the nation in terms of comprehensive strength.

By the end of September this year, the Hubei Pilot FTZ had seen a total of 73,000 new market entities, and 23 of its institutional innovation achievements had been promoted nationwide, according to Chen Huarong, deputy director of the Department of Commerce of Hubei Province.

Also worth noting is the fact that in 2020, the Wuhan Area, occupying only 0.8 percent of Wuhan's land area, accounted for 44 percent of the city's toal imports and exports and 27 percent of the province's total.