Eight ministries and departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, have jointly issued a guideline on supporting the development of enclave economies.

An enclave economy is a cross-regional administrative management and economic cooperation model that breaks the administrative division between two or more independent administrative regions, in order to achieve coordinated economic development. The model is of great significance to China for more balanced regional development.

The enclave economy model aims to achieve mutual benefits for different administrative regions and promote their common progress. However, an enclave economy always involves complicated political and economic interests, and the development of an enclave economy always faces administrative barriers because it relates to local officials' interests and political performance.

The new guideline aims to break the administrative barriers that hinder the development of enclave economies. For instance, the central authorities will support different parties in an enclave economy by jointly negotiating and signing cooperation agreements about regional planning, management and profit distribution. Innovative cooperation models that follow market principles are also being encouraged. In addition, the central authorities are encouraging the local authorities in enclave economies to optimize their administrative approval processes to facilitate the management and operation of these special regions.