General

Eight departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, recently decided to set up 29 national import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zones across the country. This is China's latest move to actively expand imports. So far, the number of national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones has increased to 43.

Experts interviewed said that these demonstration zones have actively carried out policy innovation, effectively promoted the deep integration of import trade, industry and consumption, formed their own advantages and characteristics, and fully played the leading role of import in international trade. China has been the world's second largest importer for 13 consecutive years, and has become a "stabilizer" for global economic and trade with its own super-large market. With the further expansion of the demonstration zone, the pace of high-quality development of China's import trade will be further accelerated.

Highlight the leading role and release the spillover effect

The pace of China's establishment of import demonstration zones can be described as orderly: in September 2011, the country's first national import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zone landed in Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone; in December 2012, Tianjin Dongjiang Free Trade Port Area, Jiangsu Province Suzhou Industrial Park , Ningbo Free Trade Zone in Zhejiang Province became the second batch of demonstration zones; in November 2020, 10 new demonstration zones were established across the country. Since President Xi Jinping announced at the 4th CIIE the major opening-up initiative of "addition of import trade promotion and innovation demonstration zones", the construction of import demonstration zones has been greatly advanced: 29 new import demonstration zones were added in November this year.

Yang Xiangyang, a professor at the School of International Economics and Trade of Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, said that currently 43 demonstration zones cover most provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country. As the center, it gradually expands to the Yangtze River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and then extends to the southeast coastal provinces and western economic provinces, and then covers the network structure and spatial layout of most provinces in the country.

"After years of exploration and practice, each demonstration zone has given full play to the leading role of imports, and has achieved new practices and breakthroughs in improving import facilitation and exploring innovative new formats of import trade, accumulating beneficial experience for the high-quality development of China's import trade ” wrote the “2022 China Import Development Report” edited by Wei Hao, a professor at the School of Economics and Business Administration of Beijing Normal University and director of the National Import Research Center. For example, Guangzhou Nansha District focuses on wine, milk powder, health care products and other industries, and has formed six tens of billions of import platforms; Dalian Jinpu New District focuses on building a Northeast Asian oil and gas trading center and corresponding industrial clusters; Kunshan has built an imported coffee The trading platform and green bean distribution center vigorously deploy the entire coffee industry chain.

The leading role and spillover effects of the import demonstration zone continue to emerge. The "Report" shows that in the past 10 years, the scale of China's international trade imports has risen from 11.48 trillion yuan in 2012 to 17.36 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 51.23% in 2021 compared with 2012, and an average annual growth rate of about 4.7%. .

In Yang Xiangyang's view, the import demonstration zone is an important carrier and effective support for China to implement a more proactive opening-up strategy and build a global network of high-standard free trade zones. The expansion of the import demonstration zone will help to actively explore and steadily promote the opening of the system. By attracting global resource elements and strengthening the linkage between domestic and international markets, it will inject more vitality and provide a solid guarantee for China's initiative to expand imports, and comprehensively accelerate the improvement of import trade. quality and level.

Full of distinctive features, highlighting reform and innovation

"Judging from the newly added 29 demonstration zones, they are diverse in type, with a good construction foundation and distinctive features, and will play an active role in policy mechanisms and facilitation." Yang Xiangyang said. For example, Beijing Capital International Airport Airport Economic Zone relies on the advantages of the world's second largest international hub airport, fully utilizes and integrates multi-level policy functions such as free trade pilot zone, comprehensive bonded zone, and service industry expansion and opening comprehensive demonstration zone, and continues to improve ports and airports. The bonded functional system uses import trade to promote consumption upgrades in Beijing and surrounding areas.

In recent years, Beijing's import trade has developed rapidly. From January to September this year, Beijing's imports were 2,232.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.6%, exceeding the national growth rate by 20.4 percentage points, ranking first in the country. The relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce stated that taking the opportunity of successfully being included in the National Import Trade Promotion Innovation Demonstration Zone, Beijing will further expand its own advantages in opening up, industrial advantages and regional functional policies, and take the lead in the promotion of innovation and development in import trade. In the forefront, better play the region's leading role in driving the development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban clusters and opening up to the outside world, and add new engines to promote foreign trade growth.

Wuxi Xinwu District selected in this batch has accelerated the construction of a distinctive import trade service system in recent years, comprehensively improved the level of trade customs clearance facilitation, successfully piloted a series of innovative supervision models such as domestic and foreign maintenance, and centralized and consolidated tax payment, and actively carried out bonded research and development, general Taxpayer pilots, cross-border e-commerce, public overseas warehouses and other new trade methods, promote the construction of international postal exchange offices, and the environment for innovation and development of import trade is increasingly perfect. According to statistics, in 2021, Xinwu District's international trade import volume will be 26.28 billion US dollars, accounting for 65.1% of the city's total import volume.

Chongqing Liangjiang New District deepened the reform of the customs clearance model according to the customs clearance needs of enterprises, explored advance declaration, two-step declaration, two-stage access, etc., and improved the level of import trade facilitation by strengthening waterway and airport customs clearance services.

Wei Hao believes that in the future, we should further improve the quality of the construction of international trade import demonstration zones, achieve breakthroughs in import policies, explore new formats and models of import trade, and promote mature experience to the whole country. At the same time, continuously increase the number of international trade import demonstration zones, explore high-level opening-up models and paths, and make new contributions to building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality economic development.