The State Council Information Office (SCIO) holds a policy briefing on the Master Plan of China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2026. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China's commerce ministry and Inner Mongolia officials on Friday laid out details for developing the newly established China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), pledging efforts to turn it into a hub of opening up and a model of high-quality development.

Speaking at a State Council policy briefing, Yuan Xiaoming, assistant minister of commerce, said efforts will focus on empowering and enhancing capabilities, while exploring a new model for connecting domestic and international markets.

Efforts will also be made to expand high-standard opening up, create a new model for mutually beneficial cooperation, and enable the region to support national strategies by developing new competitive advantages in industrial development, according to Yuan.

Straddling northeast, north, and northwest China, and bordering Russia and Mongolia, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region serves as the forefront of China's northward opening up. It boasts 20 ports open to the outside world and is the only provincial-level region in the country that possesses both the eastern and central corridors of the China-Europe Railway Express.

The pilot FTZ covers 119.74 square kilometers and comprises three subzones in Hohhot, capital of the autonomous region, Manzhouli, a northern border city, and Erenhot, a land port on the China-Mongolia border, each tasked with differentiated functions and the development of industries tailored to local conditions.

With the establishment of the China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot FTZ, the latest move in China's sustained push for high-standard opening up, the country has expanded its pilot FTZ to 23.

The move will grant the new pilot FTZ greater reform autonomy. It also encourages pioneering, integrated and differentiated exploration across a wider range of areas and at a deeper level.

Huang Zhiqiang, executive vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, told the briefing that efforts will be made to build a high-standard free trade park characterized by facilitation of investment and trade, a sound innovation ecosystem, the agglomeration of advantageous industries, and vibrant international exchanges.

To this end, the region will cultivate new drivers for the open economy to better serve the development of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor and the overall strategy of national northward opening up, Huang said.

Moreover, the region will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative in areas such as infrastructure connectivity, mutual recognition of rules and standards, and people-to-people bonds, said Huang.

The official also said that the region will make every effort to promote the innovative development of its distinctive and advantageous industries, noting that development of strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, biomedicine, and next-generation information technology will be accelerated. ■