General

It has been one year since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially came into effect. In order to comprehensively promote the root of RCEP, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, in conjunction with the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, held the "Chongqing High Quality Implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) Special Training Conference" 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. Approximately 150 people will attend the offline main venue and 1000 people will attend the online branch venue. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reports.

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

This training session invited multiple industry experts and scholars to give lectures. Zhang Wei, Vice President of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that Chongqing's high-quality implementation of RCEP should leverage the policy advantages of an international consumption center city, a pilot free trade zone, and a comprehensive pilot program for expanding the opening up of the service industry, and fully enjoy the benefits of RCEP in the fields of goods trade, 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; Strengthening channels by strengthening the construction of strategic channels, promoting coordinated development of cross-border 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 collaborating to optimize the business environment of ports. In addition, Chongqing can strive to create a leading area for "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation, and use digital trade to smooth the domestic and foreign markets, promoting 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 topics such as "Development Opportunities and Risks of RCEP and Asia Pacific Regional Cooperation", "How Enterprises Enjoy the Benefits of RCEP Trade Facilitation", "RCEP Country Market and Industry Analysis", and "RCEP and Mainland Industry Investment" from multiple dimensions, from theory to practice. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Through this training, Chongqing helps enterprises to understand and utilize policy dividends and facilitation measures, helping them seize the opportunities and avoid potential 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 task measures implemented around the Action Plan for High Quality Implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) in Chongqing have achieved significant results.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, from January to December 2022, the total import and export volume 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 550 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%. The actual use of foreign investment is 360 million US dollars, and Japan's Maite Optoelectronics project, Indonesia's Green Rock Cultural and Tourism project, Singapore's International Ai Investment project and other projects have been successively implemented, and two-way investment continues to expand; Relying on major exhibition platforms such as the Western China Economic and Trade Fair and the Smart World Expo, themed activities such as the International Cooperation Forum on the Land Sea New Channel, the "RCEP and Western Opening up" International Cooperation Forum, and the "RCEP Digital Trade Cooperation and Development Forum" have been held to promote a series of cooperation agreements between Chongqing and RCEP member countries in investment, trade, logistics, education, and other fields, and cooperation and exchange in various fields are becoming increasingly close; Chongqing Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Chongqing Customs actively promote the implementation of self-service printing facilitation measures for certificate of origin under RCEP, making it easier for enterprises to enjoy benefits; Chongqing Customs actively utilizes the AEO advanced certification enterprise coordinator system, and has solved 54 problems for 69 foreign trade enterprises, further improving the business environment.

In recent years, Chongqing has gone from deeply cultivating the ASEAN market to implementing the "ASEAN Action Plan", and then to high-quality implementing the RCEP Action Plan. Through accelerating joint venture cooperation with Japan and South Korea, significant achievements have been made in bilateral trade, two-way investment, and other aspects. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

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

Secondly, two-way investment focuses on leveraging comparative advantages and presenting different characteristics. Creating comparative advantages and gathering competitive advantages is still the key to improving Chongqing's level of openness.

Third, bilateral economic and trade exchanges have been steadily advancing, government enterprise interaction has been frequent, the linkage platform has become increasingly diversified, the focus of investment attraction has become prominent, the orientation of industrial policies has become increasingly clear, the synergy of open platform has initially emerged, and the financial security mechanism has continued to innovate.

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 aspects. Specifically, it includes grasping the trend of tariff reduction and optimizing the import and export trade structure; Make good use of the rules of origin accumulation and deepen regional production capacity cooperation; Optimize the business environment and improve the quality of investment attraction; Strengthen the construction of new land sea channels and enhance the economic radiation capacity of the channels; Enhance the openness level of the service industry, promote the development of cross-border service trade, and continuously enhance the global competitiveness of Chongqing enterprises and products. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.