WUHAN — China’s 12 pilot free trade zones (FTZ) have attracted nearly 40,000 foreign enterprises since the first was established in Shanghai over five years ago, a new report showed.

Within the period, the zones saw over 600,000 newly-established enterprises in total, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC) with the Ministry of Commerce.

The zones have attracted 12 percent of the country’s foreign investment inflow and generated 12 percent of China’s imports and exports since September 2013, the report showed.

After Shanghai became the first testing ground field in 2013, the country established 11 more in its coastal regions including Guangdong and Fujian and inland provinces such as Shaanxi and Sichuan.

The FTZs have promoted deeper reforms, played leading roles in exploring new models of opening-up, and strongly boosted China’s high-quality development, said Zhang Wei, deputy head of the CAITEC.

China will roll out a revised negative list for foreign investment market access by the end of this month, the country’s commerce ministry said on June 20.

The new lists, one for pilot FTZs and one for the rest of the country, will expand the fields open to overseas investment.