Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone [Photo/VCG]

Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone ranked first among 108 development zones and industrial bases in Shanghai in terms of the size of their economy in 2019, according to a report on the evaluation of Shanghai's development zones, which was recently released by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

The size of economy for a development zone is judged based on five main indicators: the aggregate industrial output value, gross trading volume, total profits, the taxes they paid, and the total volume of foreign trade.

A total of 108 development zones, industrial bases, and parks participated in the evaluation by submitting their performance report for 2019.

Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, the first bonded area in China, was founded in June 1990 upon the approval of the State Council.

Occupying about 10 square kilometers, it has developed into a special area with large economic scale and complete business functions that is under the supervision of Shanghai Customs.

As the first "National Promotion and Innovation Demonstration Area of Import and Export Trade" in China, the zone is a trade platform for 10 major fields: alcohol, clocks and watches, automobiles, construction machinery, machine tools, medical equipment, biological medicine, health product, cosmetics, as well as cultural products.

It is also designated as China first "National Base for International Cultural Trade" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China.

In 2018, the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone received four awards after a recent evaluation on more than 1,200 free trade zones across the globe by fDi Magazine, which is affiliated with the Financial Times.

The bonded area was honored with the Large Tenant Award – Asia-Pacific, as well as three other awards for Trade Facilitation, Expansion, and Efforts to Improve Transparency.

It is the world's only free trade zone to be awarded for Efforts to Improve Transparency and Asia Pacific's only free trade zone to receive the Large Tenant Award – Asia-Pacific.

A number of well-known global investors, including Siemens, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Arrow Electronics, operate in the Waigaoqiao Bonded Area.