Plans to make Shenzhen a global hub for finance, logistics, trade, innovation and cultural creativity have been given the green light, a media report suggested yesterday.

Comprehensive reform plans submitted by the Shenzhen government to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) were approved by the State Council on Wednesday, Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald said.

Shenzhen's CBD[CFP]

Quoting anonymous sources yesterday, it reported the Cabinet would give Shenzhen priority in carrying out the reforms as long as conditions in the city were suitable.

And Guo Jun, deputy director of the local government's news office, told China Daily: "The local government hasn't got the official document yet. But previous messages we have got from central government hint there is a big chance the scheme will be passed."

The decision, if rubberstamped, would quickly follow on the heels of the announcement in March that Shanghai will become an international finance and shipping center by 2020.

The conditions referred to by 21st Century Business Herald's source include new systems that would be favorable to China's future development, an institutional pilot project promising a great impact on Shenzhen's social and economic development, and measures that could strengthen the economic cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Shenzhen, which is the first special economic zone in the country, was the mainland's first city to achieve US$10,000 per capita gross domestic product.

According to its reform scheme, the government aims to speed up the flow of capital, goods and information between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, seeking cooperation in the high-end aviation services sector, jointly developing world-leading ports and chain supply management centers to serve global distribution.

"China needs more than one financial hub," said Xiao Jincheng, a senior researcher for the institute on land development and local economy under the NDRC. "Shenzhen and Hong Kong would mainly target the areas in Pearl River Delta, while Shanghai could serve the Yangtze River Delta area."

The cabinet's approval would also make it possible for the city to expand the current special economic zone from the 400 sq km to comprise the entire city.

Su Dongbin, a senior researcher at Shenzhen University, explained that due to long-existing policy differences, economic development and urban planning outside the special economic zone are lagging behind other districts, which ultimately hurt the city's overall competitiveness.

(China Daily May 15, 2009)