Since its establishment in 2019, the China (Heilongjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone has leveraged its strategic positioning and unique strengths in Russia-oriented and border-opening cooperation. Through continuous deepening of reform and innovation, it has cumulatively released 10 batches of 230 provincial-level innovative practice cases, attracted nearly 50,000 newly established enterprises, and contributed nearly one-fifth of the province's total import and export value and actual utilized foreign capital, cementing its role as the core engine of the province's open development.
As China's northernmost pilot free trade zone and one of the first border-area pilot free trade zones, the Harbin area has accelerated the construction of a reform and innovation work system. Efforts have been sustained across organizational guarantees, institutional design, differentiated exploration, and breakthroughs in key areas.
Over the past seven years, the zone has fully implemented the reform tasks outlined in the overall plan, issued regulations for the pilot free trade zone, and continuously built a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment. It has deeply implemented the strategy to upgrade the pilot free trade zone, making systematic efforts in trade, investment, capital flows, transportation, personnel exchanges, and cross-border data flows. Aligning with the key tasks of the "15th Five-Year Plan," it has also issued a three-year action plan for high-quality development of the pilot free trade zone. Simultaneously, it has continuously studied and drawn on innovative achievements replicated and promoted at the national level, releasing five batches of typical replication cases, effectively leveraging its role as a comprehensive pilot platform for reform and opening up.
In the differentiated exploration of the Heihe area's border trade transaction points, initiatives such as "unconscious renewal of enterprise permits," "innovative construction of China-Russia cross-border clusters," and the "one certificate, two routes" new model for international dangerous goods road transport have been rated as "best practice cases" for the pilot free trade zone and promoted nationwide.
The three major areas have each carved out distinctive development paths based on local conditions. The Harbin area relies on the "Harbin-to-Europe" and "Harbin-to-Russia" international freight trains, as well as the "Longmaotong" platform, to optimize the customs supervision center services for cross-border e-commerce express delivery, driving rapid growth in the "9610" cross-border e-commerce business. The Suifenhe area integrates the advantages of the comprehensive bonded zone and the border mutual trade zone, deepens the "dual procurement, dual sales" and "dual warehouse, dual clearance" operating mechanisms, and launches the "Suiyida" export independent station. In 2025, the trade volume of the Suifenhe Comprehensive Bonded Zone reached 7.907 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.5%.
The Heihe area, relying on the highway bridge and the China-Russia Eastern Gas Pipeline, has built a national strategic energy import and storage base, with annual gas transmission capacity increased to 38 billion cubic meters. It has also introduced Russia's OZON e-commerce platform and WB e-commerce platform to carry out cross-border e-commerce business, with cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reaching 2.45 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 79.6%.
In terms of the industrial system, the Harbin area has built a new industrial system centered on strategic emerging industries such as new materials and next-generation information technology. The Suifenhe area develops "production and processing" industries such as wood and grain, as well as "modern service" industries like logistics and e-commerce. The Heihe area focuses on developing cross-border characteristic industries including energy resources, agricultural products, and logistics, forming a pattern of distinct characteristics and complementary advantages.
This year marks the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. The Heilongjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone will further strengthen its frontier and opening-up awareness, intensify efforts in original and integrated exploration, deepen systematic innovation in trade facilitation, investment liberalization, and cross-border data flows, and roll out a batch of demonstration-led cases. It will continue to improve the international trade "single window" and implement the negative list for cross-border service trade. In terms of investment attraction, the Harbin area will focus on building new materials and high-end equipment industries, accelerating the construction of the Shenzhen (Harbin) Industrial Park. The Suifenhe area will expand the scale of its imported timber processing base, while the Heihe area will strengthen its cold-region vehicle testing industry, continuously releasing new momentum for border-area opening up.