CRI听力:Shanghai FTZ to Celebrate its First Anniversary

Officials in Shanghai say the Shanghai Free Trade Zone has been running as expected since its launch almost a year ago.

Ai Baojun, Chief of the FTZ, has made the comment ahead of the one-year anniversay of the trade zone, which falls on next Monday.

"Shanghai FTZ has helped the promotion of innovation. It has established its own regulation systems with more emphasis on trade facilitation. I use three numbers to explain the change on the facilitation of trade. The total imports and exports has increased 11%, the cost of storage has decreased 10% and the average custom clearance time has reduced 3-4 days."

Meanwhile, Ai Baojun has also used a news conference today to explain the sudden removal of his deputy at the Zone, saying Dai Haibo's departure from the FTZ was a normal personnel reshuffle.

He notes Dai is still the deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Government.

Shanghai authorities suddenly announced two weeks ago that Dai Haibo was no longer Communist Party chief and executive deputy director of the FTZ.