Since its establishment, China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone has continuously strengthened its reform efforts, exploring and developing a series of nationally leading and iconic institutional innovation achievements. These have effectively enhanced Anhui's level of opening up to the outside world, driving key provincial indicators of open economy to advance significantly and achieve a historic leap forward.

In its Hefei Area, the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone innovatively established an "Easy Credit" platform. This platform acts as a bridge connecting enterprises with financial institutions. Through this system, companies can license the usage rights of their invention patents to financial institutions for financing purposes. Conversely, financial institutions can then treat these invention patents as tradable "commodities," buying and selling them on the transaction market to raise capital. As a result, patent certificates hanging on walls are no longer dormant assets but become negotiable "patent checks." 

This year, the high-level development of China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone has accelerated significantly, with reforms across its various areas showing breakthroughs at multiple points. In Wuhu, a reform focused on maritime administrative services is proving effective. At the Yangtze River (Wuhu) Shipping Factor Market's Maritime Affairs Service Hall, Manager Li Jiawei from Xinlong Shipping Company is handling the ownership transfer procedures for their newly acquired vessel, Longyun No. 988. Previously, obtaining all six certificates—including ownership registration and nationality documents—required visiting multiple departments and took half a month. Now, leveraging the "One Matter for Departure" service, he completes everything in just one visit within two or three days. This greatly reduces the vessel's downtime and brings considerable profits to the company.

This highly efficient and convenient transformation stems from a systematic reform of 108 shipping-related government services implemented by the Wuhu Area of the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone. Following the reform, application materials were reduced by 54%, processing steps were streamlined by 61%, and public satisfaction reached 100%.

Leveraging institutional innovations within the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), inland cities now have novel ways to connect rivers and seas. At Bengbu Port in the Bengbu Area of the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone, a chemical enterprise exporting to South Korea is shipping goods. Previously, companies had to contact road, rail, and shipping lines separately—a process marked by numerous formalities and long waiting times. Now, Bengbu Port bundles road-rail-river-sea transport into an integrated package, offering complete end-to-end service: "One Entrustment, One Bill Settlement, One Container Through." Enterprises only need to deal with one party; goods enjoy direct "door-to-door" delivery without container transfer en route. All operations—booking space, picking up containers, customs declaration, fee payment—can be completed on a single platform. 

The results of the reform have been remarkable. Currently, average international trade delivery times at Bengbu Port have shortened by 40%, while logistics costs have decreased by over 20%. This reform was also selected as one of the Best Practice Cases for Yangtze River Delta Integration Development in 2025.

Since its implementation starting this April, it has saved import and export enterprises over RMB 2.3 million in logistics costs. This innovative measure not only opened up logistics corridors connecting to the Yangtze River Delta port cluster but also propelled Bengbu's strategic transformation from an inland hinterland to an open frontier.

The three zones of Anhui's Pilot Free Trade Zone, along with its 13 linked innovation areas, have undertaken numerous explorations in institutional innovation. They have collectively developed 236 institutional innovation achievements, including 47 nation-first breakthroughs and 13 cases replicated nationwide. Despite occupying less than one thousandth of the province's total area, they contribute approximately 25% of Anhui's total import and export volume and one-third of its foreign investment. 

Source: ANHUI NEWS