A cross-Strait free trade cooperation forum was held in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 10, 2014. Tu Guangshao, vice mayor of Shanghai, and Ding Tingyu, vice mayor of Taipei, were at the forum, eastday.com reported.

The Shanghai FTZ was established in September 2013, as an important move in reforms and opening-up of the mainland. The Taiwan Free Economies Pilot Zones (Taiwan FEPZ) was put forward by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in 2012, and officially launched in August 2013 as an integral part of his “Golden Ten Years” policy.

FEPZ is aimed at promoting the manufacturing and service sectors in Taiwan to attract foreign investments, integrate with international industries and create jobs. Earlier, the Taiwan administration passed a special regulation draft for FEPZ, dedicated to developing industries such as wisdom logistics, international health, agricultural output increase, financial service and educational innovation. Supervisors from functional departments, industry insiders and scholars were invited to share their experiences and discuss opportunities for cooperation.

Taiwan FEPZ holds unique advantages on trade supervision and investment facilitation, which could provide references for Shanghai FTZ. Both sides have space for cooperation, said Li Zhaojie, deputy director of Shanghai FTZ administration committee.

Shanghai FTZ is drawing attention from all sectors of Taiwan community. By the end of April, 81 Taiwan-invested enterprises were registered in Shanghai FTZ, 10 percent of newly registered foreign enterprises, and new investments from Taiwan exceeded $220,000 million. Altogether 540 Taiwan-invested enterprises were invested and operating in Shanghai FTZ, with cross-Strait trade volume exceeding $5.7 billion.

Wu Shoushan, president of GreTai Securities Market, said cooperation between Shanghai FTZ and Taiwan is realistic. It’s a great innovation to promote the cross-Strait economy and trade, with trade surplus providing opportunities for both, Wu said.

So, how to facilitate such cooperation? Li said both sides can enhance collaboration in institutional innovation. In trade supervision, the administration can establish an effective single-window service and safety review mechanism, as well as improve the social credit system and third party supervision.

In addition, Shanghai FTZ will focus on the idea of facilitated supervision brought about by Taiwan FEPZ. Meanwhile, Taiwan can refer to Shanghai’s practices in fostering an operation centers and headquarters economy. In addition, the two sides can jointly explore how to strengthen international transit and consolidation, further open up service sectors and promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry.