"The construction of a free trade pilot zone is an important strategic measure of the Party Central Committee to promote reform and opening up in the new era." Shu Jueting, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out at a regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce on May 11, "For a long time, the free trade The pilot zone will give full play to the advantages of being the first to test first. While implementing various central and local policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment with high quality, it will actively explore new ideas for stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment, strive to cultivate new drivers of growth, and contribute to the steady development of foreign trade and foreign investment across the country. .”
Shu Jueting said that 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 the 21 pilot free trade zones was 1.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, which was 1.8 percentage points higher than the national level; of which exports were 794.9 billion yuan, an increase of 8.5%, and imports were 1,036.3 billion yuan, an increase of 5.2%. The actual use of foreign capital was 71.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.1%, 17.2 percentage points higher than the national level. The total import and export volume and the actual use of foreign capital in the FTZ accounted for 19.4% and 18.1% of the 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) respectively.
Specifically, the Pilot Free Trade Zone mainly promotes the development of foreign trade and foreign investment from the following four aspects:
The first is to strengthen institutional innovation to empower development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone adheres to institutional innovation as the fundamental driving force, continues to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and the superimposed effect of various measures is increasingly apparent. For example, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone implements paperless declaration of RCEP origin visas, and express shipments and perishable goods are released within 6 hours. The Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone promotes institutional innovations such as "storage in the same tank" for bonded and non-bonded oil and gas products, and "one warehouse with multiple functions" in export supervision warehouses.
The second is to focus on key industries to promote development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone will implement precise policies to promote the development of advantageous industries and effectively promote the development of export-oriented industries. For example, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has implemented the "Global Operator Plan" in depth to support headquarters companies to superimpose complex functions such as new trade and capital management. Jiangsu Pilot Free Trade Zone has deployed and implemented more than 90 key research and development 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 precise services to ensure development. Many pilot free trade zones have established a "white list" of foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises, service ledgers, etc., to strengthen production and operation service guarantees. The Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone explored cross-border facilitation measures for talents, and issued the first batch of overseas professional qualification recognition catalogs. Liaoning issued 22 measures to financially support the high-quality development of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. The Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone expands the coverage of export credit insurance to protect small foreign trade enterprises.
Fourth, unimpeded logistics channel service development. The Pilot Free Trade Zone actively strengthens international logistics accessibility, innovates and facilitates logistics, transportation, and customs clearance, and serves the development of an export-oriented economy. Shanghai, Anhui and other pilot free trade zones have jointly carried out the "Yangtze River Delta Customs Special Cargo Inspection Operation Integration Reform", which has greatly shortened the customs clearance time for cross-border trade. Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Chongqing and other pilot free trade zones have cooperated with local railway bureaus to promote the "one order system" for multimodal transportation on the China-Laos railway, and promote the smooth flow of domestic and international logistics.
Shu Jueting said that 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.