Source: Office of Social Sciences and Humanities
Written by: Xu Lijun
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On the morning of January 22, 2015, the unveiling ceremony of Sun Yat-sen University Institute for Free Trade Zone Research was held at SYSU. Prof. Zheng Detao, Secretary of SYSU Party Committee, and Mr. Ding Hongdu, Secretary of the CPC Nansha District Committee, attended the ceremony and unveiled the plaque of the Institute.

The preparation of the Institute started after Nansha District and SYSU signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on November 21, 2014. The Institute is established in SYSU and its branch will be set up in Nansha in the future. Prof. Zheng Detao acts as the chairman of the council of the Institute, the Administration Committee of Nansha Development Zone and SYSU will appoint a vice chairman respectively. Prof. Li Shanmin, Vice President of SYSU, acts as the director of the Institute.

The Institute plans to set up an expert advisory committee and invite renowned scholars and experts from at home and abroad to provide consultation for its decision making as well as the theoretical and applied research. At present, the Institute has about 30 researchers in four research groups: finance and taxation, trade and investment, law and society, city and regional planning. They have conducted research on free trade zone construction, policy and system innovation, and some research results have been used in the application and construction of the free trade zone.

Relying on SYSU, the Institute will enhance talent cultivation and expand research team in order to become a cross-disciplinary, cross-regional think tank with international impact, and provide high level intellectual support for the new round of reform in Guangdong and China at large.