Inner Mongolia pilot FTZ accelerates reform to boost quality growth

The China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone is accelerating the implementation of reform measures including customs clearance facilitation at ports, in efforts to boost quality growth of the local region's open economy.

China expanded its pilot free trade zones (FTZs) to 23 in April with the establishment of the one in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The State Council's plan on the new pilot FTZ specifies 19 reform and innovation measures, including developing border trade in an innovative way, strengthening international logistics services, improving the efficiency of technology transfer and application, and expanding external exchanges across multiple fields.

The China (Inner Mongolia) 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, an inland port on the China-Mongolia border, each tasked with differentiated functions and the development of industries tailored to local conditions.

At the intelligent freight checkpoint of the Manzhouli inland port, drivers can complete customs clearance within just a few seconds by showing a QR code to the scanning machine.

The QR code is generated by a smartphone application, which collects the relevant customs clearance information in advance.

"Only one QR code is needed for customs clearance here. We can go through all the required formalities and have the entire application documentation processed through electronic data transmission. After getting the QR code and having it scanned at the checkpoint, the driver will be allowed to enter the country. It's very convenient and fast," said Zhao Shuang, general manager of a freight company in Manzhouli.

From January to April, Manzhouli's total foreign trade volume increased by 43.1 percent year on year.

Inner Mongolia pilot FTZ accelerates reform to boost quality growth

The newly-established World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) marks a major milestone in AI development and a significant step toward global AI governance, international delegates said on Friday.

Twenty-nine countries on Thursday signed an agreement in Shanghai on establishing WAICO, an independent intergovernmental international organization headquartered in Shanghai.

The organization aims to promote international cooperation and global governance on AI, ensuring that AI is beneficial, safe and fair, thereby promoting its healthy and orderly development to benefit all humanity.

"I think this organization reinforces the need for multilateral cooperation. So you have 29 countries that have come together. I think yesterday's developments underline the importance of the capacity-building that countries around the world are facing an AI divide. There are some countries that do not have the talent, the datasets, the computer infrastructure, the access to the right models, and therefore efforts such as these can help bridge the AI divide," said UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies Amandeep Singh Gill.

Alaa Abdulaal, chief of Digital Economy Intelligence at the Digital Cooperation Organization, also hailed the launch, saying that cooperation is vital to ensure that no country is structurally excluded from the evolving digital landscape.

"Any initiative that is targeted for opening dialogues and innovation and conversation between countries to make sure that everyone is participating in the digital economy is a huge milestone. Whenever we have cooperation, whenever we have different countries, different representation, making sure that no one is left outside AI, it is a huge achievement, definitely," said Abdulaal.

World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization marks milestone in AI development: int'l delegates