Hi, I am Eric Maskin, a professor at Harvard University and one of the recipients of 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics. And I would like to thank the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Bank of China for inviting me to speak on the topic of "Upgrading Pilot Free Trade Zones Through Financial Reform and Innovation".

Since September 2013, when the first pilot free trade zone in China was set up in Shanghai, there have been more than 20 pilot FTZs established nationwide. And in the past ten years, the Chinese government has been putting forward multiple reform measures to align domestic rules and standards with international ones, in which financial sectors are seeing more openness and innovation enabled by policies, such as those supporting more convenient cross-border RMB settlement.

I am personally very glad to take part in the discussion on the ten anniversary of China`s first pilot FTZ program. Later on I will share some of my ideas for how government and the financial sector might go even further to promoting efficient interaction between finance and economic progress and trade in the pilot FTZs, while maintaining credits` stability and a smooth trading environment. So I expect an exciting and fruitful discussion.

Thank you very much!