(Yicai) Nov. 14 -- Shanghai has released its blueprint for a Silk Road E-Commerce Co-operation Pilot Zone which will promote international and regional exchanges in the field of e-commerce.

Shanghai will boost the development of imports and exports of international e-commerce as well as cross-border Chinese yuan settlement, said Zhang Xiong, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government.

The municipality will expand its international data services, implement high standards of trade facilitation measures, promote global standards for electronic documents and explore cross-border interoperability of digital identity and electronic authentication, he added.

The establishment of the Silk Road E-commerce Cooperation Pilot Zone in Shanghai will bring more development opportunities for Chinese and foreign businesses and more benefits for consumers, said Zhou Lan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. China has penned bilateral e-commerce cooperation deals with 30 countries so far.

The creation of the pilot zone will increase economic and trade exchanges between Shanghai and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, said Qiu Wenjin, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

Shanghai will also strengthen the functions of its pilot Free Trade Zone, Lingang New Area and Hongqiao District to better serve cross-border e-commerce by establishing a global distribution center and an independent cross-border online retail station. The metropolis will improve warehousing, logistics, payment methods and other infrastructure, as well as the cross-border yuan settlement system. It will also help to nurture more talent in the field of e-commerce.

Shanghai will carry out think tank exchanges on “Silk Road E-commerce,” promote the application of digital technology and build an international service system.

Shanghai, as China’s financial hub, has strong advantages in market scale, e-retail ecosystem and shipping connections, said Zhang. Last year, e-commerce transactions in the city amounted to CNY3.3 trillion (USD456.9 billion), and nine platforms racked up sales of hundreds of billions of yuan, equivalent to tens of billions of US dollars. Of this, cross-border e-retail surged 38.6 percent to CNY184.1 billion (USD25.3 billion).

Editor: Kim Taylor