General

This year's two sessions of the National People's Congress, "high-level opening up" is still a high-frequency word.

Henan, as an inland province, has been opening up frequently in recent years. Focusing on promoting the construction of the Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone and strengthening the open air passage, Wang Zhenli, a deputy to the National People's Congress and secretary of the Party Leadership Group and director of the Henan Provincial Department of Commerce, accepted an exclusive interview with the reporter of the International Business Daily during the two sessions of this year.

Centering on institutional innovation,

Promote new breakthroughs in the construction of the pilot free trade zone

The construction of the pilot free trade zone is an important strategic measure of the CPC Central Committee to promote reform and opening up in the new era. According to the report of the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, since the first pilot free trade zone set sail in Shanghai in September 2013, to the formation of 21 new "wild goose arrays" of opening up in the east, west, north and south, the pilot free trade zone has achieved a series of achievements in the level of opening up, the layout of opening up, reform and innovation, economic performance and other aspects in the past ten years.

As the only pilot free trade zone with the theme of transportation and logistics hub among 21 "pilot fields" of reform and opening up, Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone is strategically positioned as "two systems and one hub", that is, to accelerate the construction of a modern three-dimensional transportation system and a modern logistics system connecting the north and the south, the east and the west, and to build the pilot free trade zone into a modern comprehensive transportation hub serving the construction of the "the Belt and Road" Comprehensive reform and opening-up pilot field and inland open economy demonstration zone.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, up to now, the Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone has accumulated 515 institutional innovation achievements, of which about 40% belong to the category of "two systems and one hub". In 2022, the cargo and mail throughput of Zhengzhou Airport will reach 625000 tons, and the international cargo and mail throughput will rank the fifth in the country. The north cargo area of Zhengzhou Airport will be completed and put into use, and the cargo support capacity will reach 1.1 million tons; The construction of the China Europe Express (Zhengzhou) assembly center has been accelerated. The China Europe Express (Zhongyu) has run 7000 flights in total, and has built an international logistics network of 20 overseas direct stations and 8 entry-exit ports. The function of the transportation hub serving the construction of the "the Belt and Road" is becoming more and more perfect, with more and more obvious results.

"The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the 'implementation of the upgrading strategy of the pilot free trade zone'." Wang Zhenli said that at present, Henan has fully launched the construction of the 2.0 version of the pilot free trade zone, and issued the "Implementation Plan of the 2.0 version of the pilot free trade zone in Henan" and the special plan for the construction and upgrading of the multimodal transport, legal, government, regulatory and financial service system. In the future, Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone will deepen institutional innovation around the construction of "two systems and one hub", deepen the economic and trade rules of elevation standards in the aspects of multimodal transport, China-Europe trains, the air Silk Road, cross-border e-commerce, and deepen the "pilot field", seek efficiency from reform, seek dividends from innovation, and create a pioneer and pioneer of institutional opening.

We should strengthen the air opening channel,

Promote Henan's opening-up

In recent years, Henan Province has developed from scratch, creating a loud and open brand of the four "Silk Road" in the air, on land, on the Internet and on the sea, and promoting Henan to move from the inland hinterland without the coast to the frontier of opening up, and has made great achievements in economic and social development.

In order to further strengthen the brand construction of the "Air Silk Road", Wang Zhenli specially submitted the Proposal on Supporting Zhengzhou Airport to Use the Fifth Right of Navigation to Build an International Aviation Hub during the two sessions of this year.

The fifth navigation right, also known as the third country access right, is praised by the aviation industry as the "most abundant and economically significant" navigation right. Ordinary international routes are generally open to traffic between two countries. After the opening of the fifth navigation right, airlines can carry passengers and cargo in the third country, achieve the effect of free transportation between the three countries, improve the efficiency of air cargo operations, and complement the shortcomings of the freight market along the way. It is one of the important indicators to measure the level of openness and business environment of a region. It can be said that the fifth navigation right is of great significance to promote Henan's opening-up.

On November 23, 2018, the State Council issued the Notice on Several Measures to Support the Deepening Reform and Innovation of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, which pointed out that Zhengzhou Airport should be supported to use the fifth navigation right and allow foreign airlines to carry passenger and cargo business through Zhengzhou to third countries. At present, four airlines, Luxembourg Cargo Airlines, Atlas Airlines, UPS Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, have opened regular cargo routes at Zhengzhou Airport by using the fifth right of way. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Wang Zhenli believes that giving more airlines operating in Zhengzhou the fifth navigation right can play a "multiplier effect" and "superposition effect", improve the operational efficiency of Zhengzhou Airport, improve its comprehensive competitiveness, collect and distribute goods in a larger range of the world, and create an important international aviation logistics hub; It is beneficial for Henan to strengthen the air opening channel, better move to the forefront of opening up, drive the opening up of the central and western regions with greater radiation, optimize the strategic layout of the national regional opening up, and report the import and export data of Huacheng.

In this regard, he suggested that the state should support the application for expanding the fifth right quota of airlines operating in Zhengzhou, so that they can make full use of the fifth right, open more cargo routes from Zhengzhou to Asia, Europe, the United States and Africa, encrypt the flight routes of major global freight hubs and major economies, and provide support in the allocation and timing of the right quota of international passenger routes at Zhengzhou Airport.

Set up a new airport area,

Build a more competitive free trade park

On March 6, the Henan delegation submitted a number of proposals in the name of the whole delegation to the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, including the Proposal on Requesting the State to Support the Establishment of a New Airport Area of China (Henan) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

"When it comes to 'two systems and one hub', we cannot do without the exploration and contribution of air logistics, air and rail multimodal transport and other aspects." Wang Zhenli said that Zhengzhou Airport Area is the only aviation economic pilot zone approved by the State Council in China, and is also an important platform for institutional opening in Henan and a core window linking domestic and international double circulation.

Therefore, in order to better implement the national strategy and serve the "the Belt and Road" construction, Henan plans to apply for the establishment of the new airport area of Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone relying on Zhengzhou Airport Area. This is conducive to deepening reform and opening up and institutional innovation at a higher level with the help of modern logistics hubs, introducing high-end industries and market players in a broader field, creating a more competitive free trade park, better realizing the strategic positioning of "two systems and one hub" given by the state, and better "trying for the national system" and "seeking development for the local".