Foreign trade and foreign investment in the Pilot Free Trade Zone achieved rapid growth in the first quarter.
"In the first quarter of this year, foreign trade and foreign investment in the Pilot Free Trade Zone achieved rapid growth. The import and export volume of 21 pilot free trade zones was 1.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, 1.8 percentage points higher than the national level. " At the regular press conference held by the Ministry of Commerce on May 11th, spokesperson Shu Yuting said that building a free trade pilot zone is an important strategic measure for the CPC Central Committee to promote reform and opening up in the new era. For a long time, the Pilot Free Trade Zone has given full play to the advantages of being the first to try. While implementing the central and local policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment with high quality, it has actively explored new ideas to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, and strived to cultivate new growth momentum, contributing to the steady development of foreign trade and foreign investment in the country.
According to Shu Yuting, the export of 21 pilot free trade zones in the first quarter of this year was 794.9 billion yuan, an increase of 8.5%; Imports reached 1,036.3 billion yuan, up 5.2%. The actual use of foreign capital was 71.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.1%, which was 17.2 percentage points higher than that of the whole country. The total import and export volume and the actual use of foreign capital in the Pilot Free Trade Zone accounted for 19.4% and 18.1% respectively in 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). While achieving high growth in import and export, the Pilot Free Trade Zone has actively played the role of stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment in four aspects. Specifically, Shu Yuting said that the first is to strengthen institutional innovation and empower development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone adheres to institutional innovation as the fundamental driving force, continuously promotes the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and the superposition effect of various measures is increasingly apparent. For example, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone implements the paperless declaration of the certificate of origin of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement, and the export of express mail and perishable goods is released within 6 hours. Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone promotes institutional innovations such as "storing bonded and non-bonded oil and gas products in the same tank" and "one warehouse with multiple functions" for export supervision warehouses.
Second, focus on key industries to promote development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone accurately promotes the development of advantageous industries and effectively promotes the development of export-oriented industries. For example, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has implemented the "Global Operator Plan" in depth, supporting headquarters enterprises to superimpose new functions such as trade and fund management. Jiangsu Pilot Free Trade Zone has deployed and implemented more than 90 key R&D projects and 49 major scientific and technological achievements transformation projects, and more than 3,500 high-tech enterprises have gathered in the zone.
The third is to provide accurate services to ensure development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone has established a "white list" and service accounts for foreign-funded enterprises in foreign trade, and strengthened the guarantee of production and operation services. Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone explored cross-border facilitation measures for talents and issued the first batch of overseas vocational qualification recognition catalogues. Liaoning introduced 22 measures to support the high-quality development of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone has expanded the coverage of export credit insurance to protect small foreign trade enterprises.
The fourth is to smooth the development of logistics channel services. The Pilot Free Trade Zone actively strengthens the accessibility of international logistics, innovatively promotes the convenience of logistics, transportation and customs clearance, and serves the development of export-oriented economy. Shanghai, Anhui and other Pilot Free Trade Zones jointly launched the "Integrated Reform of Special Goods Inspection in Yangtze River Delta Customs", and the time for cross-border trade clearance was greatly reduced. Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Chongqing and other pilot free trade zones cooperate with local railway bureaus to promote the "one-single system" of multimodal transport between China and Laos, and promote the smooth flow of domestic and international logistics.
"This year marks the tenth anniversary of the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The Ministry of Commerce will hold a series of activities to help domestic and foreign enterprises better understand the innovative measures of the Pilot Free Trade Zone and jointly seize new opportunities for development. " Shu Yuting said.