On January 1, 2022, the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) came into effect, and the construction of the world's largest free trade zone has brought a lot of new business opportunities. Regarding the first anniversary of RCEP's entry into force and its future prospects, the reporter recently interviewed Xu Ningning, executive chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Council, chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, and chief China-ASEAN business expert.
Xu Ningning said that RCEP is a product of the 15 signatory countries in line with the global development trend, implementing free trade and multilateral cooperation. It is a major measure to promote regional economic integration, develop regional economic growth potential, and promote the expansion of trade and investment among countries. The "integrator" of the rules is an unprecedented large-scale regional trade arrangement. It is another major opening after China's accession to the WTO. It is the first time that China has signed a free trade agreement with the world's top ten economies. The population, economic volume, and total trade volume of the RCEP region account for about 30% of the global total. In 2022, the open development of the RCEP region will be the biggest highlight of the global economic recovery and growth.
Xu Ningning said that in 2022, China's trade with the other 14 RCEP countries, including ASEAN, will be 12.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.5%, accounting for 30.8% of China's total foreign trade value. Eight of China's trade with other RCEP member countries have exceeded double-digit growth rates, and the growth rate of trade with Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos has exceeded 20%.
Xu Ningning analyzed that in 2022, China's top three trading partners are ASEAN, and the trade between China and ASEAN is 6.52 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.0%, which is faster than the growth rate of China's trade with the European Union and the United States during the same period. Trade between China and ASEAN accounts for 15.5% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 1 percentage point from 2021. China imported 246.86 billion yuan of agricultural products from ASEAN, an increase of 21.3%, which benefited the expansion of exports of ASEAN's specialty products and economic growth. China's trade with ASEAN accounts for 50.3% of its trade with other RCEP countries.
In the trade between China and other RCEP countries, the top three countries in total trade volume are South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, the top three countries in export volume are Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, and the top three countries in import volume are South Korea, Japan, and Australia . Among China's trade with other RCEP countries, China has the largest trade surplus with Vietnam; China has the largest trade deficit with Australia.
Xu Ningning said that in recent years, the Ministry of Commerce, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the General Administration of Customs and other organizations have organized a large number of RCEP seminars and training work. Six departments including the Ministry of Commerce have jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on High-Quality Implementation of RCEP". The vast majority of provinces and cities in China include "Seize the new opportunities brought by the implementation of RCEP" in the annual "Two Sessions" and "Government Work Report", and formulate and implement the "Action Plan" and "Action Plan" based on local conditions to seize the new opportunities brought by RCEP ", some provinces and cities have established RCEP promotion work coordination mechanisms or special work classes, and many provincial and municipal local governments have held activities to seize the new opportunities of RCEP, fully reflecting the positive actions of expanding opening up.
Regarding the prospect of RCEP implementation this year, Xu Ningning said that China's implementation of "Class B and B management" for new crown virus infection and optimization of management measures for the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel will have a major positive effect on RCEP national industrial cooperation, interconnection, and field cooperation. "I believe it will benefit RCEP regional economic growth".
Xu Ningning pointed out that in 2023, it is very important for RCEP member states to enhance industrial cooperation. RCEP member countries have strong industrial complementarity, close mutual trade and investment relationship, wide cooperation space and great potential. The market opening implemented by RCEP has created favorable conditions for countries to enhance industrial cooperation.
The trade figures for 2022 show that the closeness of industries in the RCEP region is increasing. China's trade in intermediate products with other RCEP member countries was 8.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5%, accounting for 67.2% of China's total trade value with other member countries during the same period. From the perspective of major commodities, China exported mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products to other RCEP member countries. Products increased by 13.2% and 20.7% respectively, of which electronic components, storage batteries and automobiles increased by 15%, 50.3% and 71.6% respectively.
Xu Ningning suggested that in 2023, national industry associations should play a further role in RCEP industrial cooperation. First, we should take the opportunity of RCEP as an important task to practice the "Belt and Road" and implement the "dual cycle" economic development, build a new development pattern, and promote industrial development, and take active actions to strengthen cooperation with industry organizations in RCEP-related countries. Second, industry associations are an important channel for RCEP industrial cooperation, and should formulate and implement an action plan for the industry to seize the opportunity of RCEP opening up. The third is that the Chinese sex industry business associations can work together with major business associations in other RCEP countries to formulate an action plan for docking cooperation. The fourth is to hold RCEP industry economic seminars, business opportunity matchmaking meetings, product exhibitions, and investment promotion meetings. In industry exhibitions, industrial parks, industry malls, and industry gathering places, more elements of RCEP-related countries are given to facilitate trade and investment. .
Xu Ningning suggested that in 2023, provinces and cities should further organically combine building a new development pattern with seizing RCEP opportunities, and implement the province's and municipal action plans for seizing RCEP opportunities. First, the research and training of RCEP should be accelerated, and efforts should be made to improve the international cooperation and competitiveness of relevant local departments and enterprises. The second is to actively implement measures for economic and trade cooperation with countries related to RCEP. The third is to give full play to the role of free trade pilot zones, free trade ports, international logistics parks, etc., and empower their RCEP elements.
Xu Ningning pointed out that in 2023, enterprises should focus on seizing new opportunities from the opening up of the RCEP region. The most important and direct purpose of the RCEP implementation is to promote enterprises to cooperate in openness and develop in cooperation. The RCEP rules have created favorable conditions for the cooperation and development of enterprises. The key now is for enterprises to make good use of this favorable condition, identify the entry point and focus, and take business actions.
Xu Ningning said that the implementation of RCEP in 2023 will face an unoptimistic global economy. Improving the level of regional cooperation and developing the potential of regional cooperation is an important long-term development strategy. It is also a common need and a solution to the severe challenges brought about by the current complex and ever-changing international situation. RCEP is an important starting point for broadening and deepening regional cooperation .
Xu Ningning believes that the factors affecting the implementation of RCEP in 2023 are internal, external and intertwined. The key lies in the internal, the determination and confidence of the RCEP countries to implement the RCEP agreement out of internal needs, the strength and degree of implementation of the agreement, and regional business operations. The improvement and improvement of the environment, the business measures taken by enterprises to seize the new business opportunities brought about by the opening of the market, the cooperation between RCEP countries, and the effect of promoting RCEP to achieve the expected goals. RCEP countries need political harmony. The development of economic and trade cooperation among countries is closely related to the consolidation of friendly relations between them. All relevant parties should be fully aware that if RCEP countries want to obtain tangible economic results from the implementation of the RCEP agreement, it is especially necessary for countries to enhance mutual trust and develop friendly relations. The conclusion and entry into force of RCEP did not come easily. The signatory countries should cherish this important cooperation agreement and actively implement it.
Xu Ningning finally mentioned that the current economic growth of ASEAN, the initiator and leader of RCEP, is optimistic. It is expected that the economic growth rate of ASEAN will be above 5% in 2022 and 2023. The China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement has been upgraded in April 2022. The China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting to be held in November 2022 has announced to jointly promote the construction of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0. In the new year, China has implemented optimized management measures for the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel and goods. It is believed that with the joint efforts of RCEP countries and their business communities in 2023, the regional economic integration promoted by RCEP implementation will benefit the economies of regional countries and the global economy.
