General

It has been one year since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially entered into force. In order to comprehensively promote the implementation of RCEP, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, in conjunction with the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, held a "Special Training Conference on the High Quality Implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) in Chongqing" on March 22, to deeply explore favorable policies and maximize the effectiveness of RCEP. The training will be conducted synchronously in a combination of online and offline sessions, lasting for two days. About 150 people will attend the offline main venue and about 1000 people will attend the online branch venue.

Xu Xincheng, Deputy Director of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, pointed out that the implementation of RCEP is a significant opportunity to enhance the linkage efficiency between domestic and international markets and resources, improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation, and also a significant opportunity for Chongqing to integrate into the new development pattern and comprehensively improve the development level of an open economy. Promoting high-quality implementation of the RCEP action plan will help accelerate Chongqing's construction of an inland international trade and logistics hub and port highland, and create an inland open highland.

Many industry experts and scholars were invited to give lectures during this training session. Zhang Wei, Vice President of the Research Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said that Chongqing's high-quality implementation of RCEP should take advantage of the policy overlap of a central city for international trade and consumption, a pilot free trade zone, and a comprehensive pilot project for expanding the opening up of the service industry, and fully enjoy the benefits of RCEP in the fields of trade in goods, service trade, two-way investment, and economic and trade rules. At the same time, Chongqing needs to enhance competitiveness, cultivate innovation, consolidate integration, and enhance adhesion in the supply chain; Strengthen channels by strengthening and promoting the construction of strategic channels, promoting the coordinated development of cross-border international trade, and expanding cross-border e-commerce logistics networks; Strengthen services in improving the level of customs clearance facilitation, strengthening the intelligent construction of ports, and coordinating to optimize the business environment of ports. In addition, Chongqing can strive to create a leading area for "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation, unblock both domestic and foreign markets with digital trade, and promote the construction of a new development pattern.

Li Li, a certified expert from the World Customs Organization (WCO), and Professor Chen Shuo from Fudan University have respectively interpreted and analyzed the topics of "The Development Opportunities and Risks of RCEP and Asia Pacific Regional Cooperation", "How Enterprises Enjoy the Dividends of RCEP Trade Facilitation", "Analysis of RCEP Country Markets and Industries", and "RCEP and Mainland Industry Investment" from multiple perspectives, from theory to practice.

Through this training, Chongqing helps enterprises to be knowledgeable and make full use of policy dividends and facilitation measures, helping them seize the opportunities and avoid possible risks brought by RCEP, continuously expanding and deepening economic and trade cooperation with RCEP member countries, accelerating the cultivation of new advantages in inland opening up, and shaping a new pattern of opening up.

It is understood that the 25 tasks and measures implemented around the Chongqing High Quality Implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) Action Plan have achieved significant results.

According to the data, from January to December 2022, the total import and export volume of international trade between Chongqing and RCEP member countries was 258.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%, accounting for 31.7% of the city; RCEP member countries have established 39 new projects in Chongqing, with a contractual foreign investment of US $550 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%. The actual use of foreign investment is US $360 million. The Maite Optoelectronics Project of Japan, the Green Rock Cultural Tourism Project of Indonesia, and the Singapore International Ai Investment Project have been successively implemented, and two-way investment has been continuously expanding; Relying on major exhibition platforms such as the Western China Economic and Trade Fair and the Smart Expo, thematic activities such as the International Cooperation Forum on the New Land Sea Channel, the International Cooperation Forum on "RCEP and the Opening of the West", and the "RCEP Digital Trade Cooperation and Development Forum" have been held, leading to the conclusion of a series of cooperation agreements between Chongqing and RCEP member countries in the fields of investment, trade, logistics, education, and the increasingly close cooperation and exchanges in various fields; Chongqing Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Chongqing Customs actively promote the implementation of self-service printing facilitation measures for certificates of origin under RCEP, making it more convenient for enterprises to enjoy benefits; Chongqing Customs actively utilizes the AEO senior certification enterprise coordinator system, and has solved 54 problems for 69 foreign trade enterprises, further improving the business environment.

In recent years, Chongqing has made significant achievements in bilateral trade and two-way investment through accelerating joint venture cooperation with Japan and South Korea, ranging from deep exploration of the ASEAN market to the implementation of the "ASEAN Action Plan", to high-quality implementation of the RCEP Action Plan.

First, the scale of bilateral trade continues to expand, and key foreign trade enterprises have a strong growth momentum towards RCEP member countries. It is reported that the overseas automobile trade transactions of Xiaokang Group involve 11 RCEP member countries, with the market mainly concentrated in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines; Longxin Group also has close economic and trade ties with most RCEP member countries, and has a wholly-owned subsidiary in Vietnam, mainly engaged in export business.

The second is that two-way investment focuses on giving full play to comparative advantages and presenting different characteristics. Creating comparative advantages and gathering competitive advantages is still the focus of Chongqing in improving its opening-up level.

Third, bilateral economic and trade exchanges have been steadily advancing, government and enterprise interactions have been frequent, linkage platforms have become increasingly diversified, investment promotion priorities have been highlighted, industrial policy guidance has become increasingly clear, the synergy of open platforms has initially emerged, and financial security mechanisms have been continuously innovated.

The relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce stated that in the next step, Chongqing will focus on deepening practical cooperation with RCEP member countries in relevant fields in five areas. Specifically, it includes grasping the trend of tariff concessions and optimizing the structure of import and export trade; Make good use of the rules of origin accumulation to deepen regional production capacity cooperation; Optimize the business environment and improve the quality of investment promotion; Strengthen the construction of new land sea channels and enhance the economic radiation capacity of the channel; Improve the openness of the service industry, promote the development of cross-border service trade, and continuously enhance the global competitiveness of Chongqing's enterprises and products.