China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) has rolled out six measures to support the development of comprehensive bonded zones to ensure stable trade flows and foreign investment growth amid the novel coronavirus epidemic.

The GAC is supporting the country's 18 pilot free trade zones, national-level new areas and economic development zones to set up comprehensive bonded zones, as well as accelerating the transformation of other types of special Customs supervision areas such as upgrading bonded port areas into comprehensive bonded zones, said a GAC on Tuesday.

The agency will expand policy coverage by attracting more manufacturing and equipment maintenance companies to establish facilities within the comprehensive bonded zones to further diversify these areas' developing strength, the statement said.

A comprehensive bonded zone is a special Customs supervision area established by the Chinese government with reference to the free trade zone (parks) that are commonly used internationally.

In addition to an abundance of preferential policies for foreign trade and comprehensive functions, this zone is also proficient in developing bonded processing, logistics and services, and other businesses.

The value of imports and exports of China's comprehensive bonded zones amounted to 2.9 trillion yuan (U.S.$413.49 billion) in 2019, up 11.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 9.2 percent of the country's total foreign trade volume, according to the GAC.

These zones have played a significant role in driving China's opening-up and real economy, especially in serving the central and western regions to undertake industrial transfers and in helping with the eastern region's industrial upgrading.