Xinhua 04.11.2024 08h41
The China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world’s first national import-themed expo, will be held for the seventh consecutive year in Shanghai, with foreign companies gathering to take the pulse of the Chinese market .
The 7th CIIE, scheduled from November 5 to 10, attracted participants from 152 countries, regions and international organizations and reached a new record with the expected participation of 297 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders. industry.
The six previous editions of the CIIE have enabled nearly 2,500 new products, technologies and services to appear, for a cumulative turnover reaching more than 420 billion dollars.
The CIIE serves to showcase China’s key opening-up measures and confidence, and to share China’s new development opportunities with other countries. It has become a platform for high-level opening-up and a public good for the whole world.
China has continued to implement policies to boost the growth of foreign trade and attract foreign investment, forming new international competitive advantages and achieving mutual benefits with other countries.
On October 25, the country issued a directive to promote the experiment of aligning some eligible free trade zones (FTAs) and the Hainan Free Trade Port with high-level international economic and trade rules.
Eligible FTZs are in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing. The pilot measures, which will be replicated in other FTAs, or even nationally, cover six aspects, namely trade in goods, trade in services, digital trade, entry of personnel, business environment , and risk prevention and control.
China has built 22 pilot free trade zones, covering coastal, inland and border regions, contributing about 20% of the country’s total foreign investment and import-export volume. Foreign trade of free zones increased by 11.99% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2024.
Continuous efforts have been made to lower customs duties. In September, China announced that it would grant less developed countries with diplomatic relations with it zero-tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines starting December 1 this year.
China also continues to implement policies aimed at creating a fertile breeding ground for foreign investors. The new edition of the national negative list for foreign investment came into effect on Friday, removing the last two items of the manufacturing industry from the previous list.
The number of items on the latest negative list, which specifies areas prohibited to foreign investors, has been further reduced to 29.
This fully demonstrates China’s active desire to increase mutual benefits and a clear attitude of supporting economic globalization, said Jin Xiandong, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, adding that further efforts will be made. deployed to improve the level of liberalization and facilitation of foreign investments, and to optimize the services offered to companies with foreign investments.
In addition to the manufacturing sector, China is also striving to expand and deepen the opening-up of the service sector.
China announced in September that it would allow the establishment of 100% foreign-owned hospitals in certain cities and regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and the entire Hainan Island.
In October, the country decided to allow foreign investors to operate wholly-owned businesses, such as Internet data centers, and engage in data processing and online transactions in certain regions, in the part of a pilot program aimed at expanding the opening of value-added telecommunications services.
A total of 42,108 new foreign-invested companies were established in China in the first nine months of 2024, up 11.4 percent year-on-year. Notably, foreign direct investment flows in the manufacturing of medical equipment and instruments jumped 57.3%, while flows in the manufacturing of computers and office appliances increased by 29%. .2% during this period.
Opening up to the outside world is not just about “opening the door”, but also actively aligning with international economic and trade regulations and other high-level rules, said Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Zhang stressed the need to strengthen synergy between domestic and international markets and resources to constantly form and consolidate new advantages in international economic cooperation and competition.
(Web editor: Ying Xie, Yishuang Liu)
