General

On April 23rd, two major positive news about China's foreign trade were simultaneously released - one was revealed by Wang Shouwen, the representative and deputy minister of the Ministry of Commerce for international trade negotiations, at a regular policy briefing held by the State Council's New Affairs Office, that a series of measures will be introduced to promote the stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade. Another event is the second phase of the 133rd Canton Fair, with the Pazhou Exhibition Hall once again welcoming peak passenger flow.

At the briefing, Wang Shouwen introduced the relevant policies and measures to promote the stability, scale, and structure of foreign trade, and made an analysis and judgment on the current foreign trade situation. He stated that the Ministry of Commerce will work with local and relevant departments to further optimize the foreign trade structure, empower enterprises, help enterprises seize opportunities, expand markets, and make more contributions to consolidating the positive economic situation.

Focus on promoting stable scale and optimized structure

In the first quarter, China's international trade import and export achieved a growth of 4.8%, achieving a "stable opening". But Wang Shouwen bluntly stated, "The foreign trade situation is still complex and severe, facing many difficulties and challenges.

Wang Shouwen analyzed that from the external environment, the uncertainty of external demand remains the biggest constraint. The International Monetary Fund has lowered the global economic growth rate, and the foreign trade of neighboring countries has recently decreased significantly. From the perspective of business entities, foreign trade enterprises face constraints and difficulties such as inconvenient participation abroad, increased trade risks, and increased business pressure.

Wang Shouwen stated that in order to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference, the Ministry of Commerce has specially organized investigations and studies in 18 provinces and cities, coordinated current and long-term efforts, analyzed the demands of foreign trade enterprises, and formulated relevant policies in conjunction with relevant departments such as the People's Bank of China and the General Administration of Customs.

On April 7th, the Executive Meeting of the State Council studied policy measures to promote stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade. Wang Shouwen introduced that in terms of stabilizing scale, firstly, efforts should be made to create trade opportunities, promote the comprehensive recovery of domestic offline exhibitions, improve the efficiency of APEC business travel card processing, and promote the safe and orderly recovery of international passenger flights; The second is to stabilize the trade of key products, help automobile enterprises to establish and improve the International marketing service system, guarantee the reasonable capital demand of large complete equipment projects, and accelerate the revision of the catalogue of technologies and products encouraged to import; The third is to stabilize foreign trade enterprises, study and establish the second phase of the Service Trade Innovation Development Guidance Fund, encourage banks and insurance institutions to expand policy financing and credit enhancement cooperation, and accelerate the expansion of industrial chain underwriting.

In terms of optimizing the structure, the first is to optimize trade methods, propose guiding the gradient transfer of processing trade to the central and western regions, and the Northeast region, revise and introduce border trade management measures, support the development of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area global trade digital pilot zone, guide industry organizations such as business associations to establish green and low-carbon standards for foreign trade products, and guide enterprises to make good use of cross-border e-commerce retail export related tax policies and measures; The second is to optimize the environment for foreign trade development, play a good role in the early warning system and legal service mechanism, deeply promote the construction of a "single window" for international trade, further facilitate the handling of export tax refunds, improve port clearance efficiency, implement effective free trade agreements with high quality, and compile and issue application guides for key industries.

Empowering enterprises to stabilize orders and expand markets

Helping enterprises stabilize orders and expand the market is an important part of promoting the stability, scale, and structure of foreign trade. Wang Shouwen said, "Since the beginning of this year, the demand for foreign trade enterprises to promote trade and connect with suppliers and purchasers has significantly increased. Therefore, the Ministry of Commerce, relevant departments, and local governments have carried out a series of work to provide support and guarantees for foreign trade enterprises in applying for visas, handling air tickets, participating in exhibitions, and other aspects, enabling enterprises to explore international trade markets at home and abroad and strive for orders.

Wang Shouwen introduced that the specific measures to empower foreign trade enterprises mainly include: firstly, organizing the Canton Fair and a series of other exhibitions well. At this moment, the 133rd Canton Fair is underway, with numerous highlights and enthusiastic exhibitors. The combination of online and offline exhibitions promotes each other and has achieved great results. During this fair, some professional international trade forums were also held, which were welcomed by participating enterprises and buyers. Wang Shouwen revealed that in the first quarter, the Ministry of Commerce registered or approved 186 various exhibitions, which will help enterprises coordinate supply and procurement.

The second is to facilitate the exchange of business personnel. Due to a series of measures taken by the civil aviation department, the current recovery rate of China's international flights is close to the top 30% of the epidemic. At the same time, relevant departments are promoting relevant countries to provide convenience for Chinese enterprises to apply for visas, and China is also providing convenience for foreign enterprises to apply for visas in China. It is worth mentioning that China supports the practice of replacing visas with APEC business travel cards, and virtual visa cards will be allowed to enter China on May 1st. In addition, relevant departments are further studying and optimizing remote detection measures to facilitate the entry of business personnel.

Thirdly, we will continue to deepen trade innovation. Wang Shouwen revealed that the Ministry of Commerce will solidly promote the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, carry out brand training, rule and standard construction, and high-quality development of overseas warehouses; An on-site meeting of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive demonstration zone will be held to promote some good practices in cross-border e-commerce.

Fourth, support enterprises in exploring diversified markets. The Ministry of Commerce will issue national trade guidelines and develop trade promotion guidelines for key markets and each country; We will make good use of the trade unblocking working group mechanism under the "the Belt and Road" established with many countries to promote the solution of the difficulties Chinese enterprises encounter in developing markets in the countries along the "the Belt and Road" and increase opportunities for enterprises.