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On January 1, 2023, the first anniversary of the formal entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). Over the past year, against the backdrop of changing international situations and the risk of recession in the world economy, my country has implemented RCEP with high quality, continuously releasing policy dividends, effectively promoting the deepening of regional economic integration, and injecting more momentum into the growth of regional and global trade and investment. .
Entering 2023, as the RCEP parties further implement the agreement’s opening commitments, the regional economic and trade potential is expected to be further stimulated and make greater contributions to the recovery of the global economy and trade.
Promoting active regional trade
In 2022, my country will import and export 12.95 trillion yuan to the other 14 member states of RCEP
Rows of steel pipes are cut, cleaned, polished, and painted on the production line. In the intelligent production workshop of Zhejiang Jiayi Thermal Insulation Technology Co., Ltd., multiple fully automatic production lines are running at full capacity, and the thermos cups produced will be sold to the European and Asian markets. In 2022, the company's export volume will exceed US$100 million.
"At the beginning of 2022, we applied for the province's first RCEP export certificate of origin, which made a good start for the annual export. The tax rate of our thermos cups exported to Japan was reduced from the original 3.9% to 3.2%. The tariff was reduced by more than 200,000 yuan." Gu Lili, foreign trade manager of Zhejiang Jiayi Thermal Insulation Technology Co., Ltd., said that this year's tax rate has been further reduced to 2.8%, which makes our products more competitive, and we are confident in further expanding exports.
For enterprises, the direct benefit of the effective implementation of RCEP is reflected in the reduction of trade costs brought about by the reduction of tariffs. According to the agreement, more than 90% of the trade in goods in the region will eventually achieve zero tariffs, and mainly reduce taxes to zero immediately and within 10 years, which greatly boosts the willingness to trade within the region.
According to the relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Customs, RCEP has officially come into effect, and free trade relations have been established between my country and Japan for the first time. Many products produced in Zhejiang, such as rice wine, Chinese medicinal materials, and thermos cups, have seen a significant increase in exports to Japan. In 2022, Hangzhou Customs will issue a total of 52,800 RCEP certificates of origin to 2,346 companies in its jurisdiction, and realize tax reductions of about 217 million yuan for import and export goods in Zhejiang Province. In 2022, Zhejiang Province's import and export to other RCEP member countries will reach 1.17 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.5%, driving the province's foreign trade growth by 3.1 percentage points.
For consumers, the entry into force of RCEP not only makes some imported goods more affordable, but also increases consumption choices.
At the Youyiguan Port in Pingxiang, Guangxi, trucks full of fruits imported from ASEAN are constantly coming and going. In recent years, more and more fruits from ASEAN countries have been exported to China, and are deeply loved by domestic consumers. Since RCEP came into effect, the agricultural product trade cooperation among member countries has become closer. Various fruits from ASEAN countries, such as Myanmar bananas, Cambodian longan, and Vietnamese durians, have been granted quarantine access by China, enriching the table of Chinese consumers.
Yuan Bo, deputy director of the Asian Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the tariff reduction and trade facilitation measures covered by RCEP have brought real benefits to enterprises in reducing costs and increasing efficiency. An important source of imported consumer goods has stimulated the potential for intra-regional trade cooperation.
According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in 2022, my country's imports and exports to the other 14 RCEP member states will be 12.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.5%, accounting for 30.8% of my country's total foreign trade import and export value, and the growth rate of imports and exports to other RCEP member states will exceed twofold. The number of digits reached 8, and the growth rate of imports and exports to Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos all exceeded 20%.
Deepen industrial chain supply chain cooperation
In 2022, my country's import and export of intermediate products to other RCEP member countries will be 8.7 trillion yuan
The cumulative rules of origin are one of the highlights of RCEP. According to this rule, the original materials of other member countries used by the enterprises of RCEP member countries in the production process can be regarded as the original materials of the region, which can increase the proportion of original value components cumulatively, making it easier for export products between member countries to reach Threshold for enjoying tariff preference.
"Now our industrial chain and supply chain layout is more reasonable, and the trade relationship with Japanese customers is closer." Guangzhou Green Anyi Clothing Co., Ltd. mainly produces all kinds of professional work clothes, and a large part of the raw materials are imported from Japan. Shi Guang, deputy general manager of the company, told reporters: "According to the RCEP regional value component standards, the use of original materials from RCEP member countries for production can also be counted as the original components of the goods. The work clothes we produce meet the standards of origin and can enjoy RCEP tariff benefits."
Experts believe that the economic structures of RCEP members are highly complementary, and the capital elements, technological elements, and labor elements in the region are complete. Under a series of institutional arrangements such as cumulative rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, and negative lists to promote investment liberalization, market access in areas such as goods, services, and investment among member states has been further relaxed, promoting the free flow of economic factors within the region, strengthening the The production division and cooperation among members enables the layout of related industries to more flexibly follow the principle of efficiency and promote the rational layout of the industrial and supply chains among member countries.
Under the favorable RCEP policies, industrial cooperation among member states has been continuously strengthened, and direct investment has continued to grow. In 2022, my country's import and export of intermediate products to other RCEP member countries will be 8.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5%, accounting for 67.2% of my country's total import and export value to other member countries during the same period. In 2022, South Korea and ASEAN's investment in China will increase by 64.2% and 8.2% respectively.
It is worth noting that the effective implementation of RCEP has caused some industries in my country to face more intense market competition from within the region. To this end, my country insists on high-quality implementation of RCEP, and constantly shapes new advantages in international competition and cooperation.
Six departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on High-Quality Implementation of RCEP" to guide enterprises to seize RCEP opportunities and participate in regional trade investment and industrial cooperation through special training, online consultation, and platform building; Optimize the customs clearance process, improve customs clearance efficiency and reduce customs clearance costs; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology supports the expansion of the export of advantageous industrial products, accelerates the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and cultivates and develops emerging industries; Judgment, certificate smart second signing and other services.
"Although RCEP has only been in effect for more than a year, it has brought gratifying changes in promoting trade facilitation, integrating industrial chains, enhancing the attractiveness of regional development, and promoting development results to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and ordinary people." Lee Kuan Yew, National University of Singapore Gu Qingyang, associate professor of the School of Public Policy, believes that China plays an important role in RCEP, and the stronger growth of China's economy in the future will bring broader development space for RCEP.
Unleash the potential of the agreement to a greater extent
Among the 15 signatories of RCEP, the number of effective members has reached 14
On January 2, RCEP came into effect for Indonesia. Since then, 14 of the 15 signatories of RCEP have become effective members, the cumulative scope of regions of origin has been further expanded, and regional economic integration has developed in depth.
The multilateral trading system and regional trade arrangements are the two "wheels" driving the development of economic globalization. Zhang Shenfeng, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that making full use of the preferential policies of free trade agreements can greatly improve the market access conditions of enterprises, reduce operating costs, and enhance the international competitiveness of products, services and investments.
CCPIT research shows that over the past year, the awareness of enterprises in my country to take advantage of RCEP’s preferential tax rates has increased significantly, and their enthusiasm for actively learning rules, mastering rules, and using rules has increased significantly. However, different enterprises have uneven awareness of RCEP, and their utilization levels vary greatly However, there is still a lot of work to be done to strengthen publicity and promotion, and conduct extensive training.
"This year, the world economy is under greater downward pressure and external uncertainties are increasing. my country needs to continue to promote the high-quality implementation of RCEP, deepen regional economic and trade cooperation with other RCEP members, and release RCEP's potential economic growth dividends to a greater extent." Yuan Bo It is believed that more companies should be guided to combine the resource endowment advantages of RCEP members, make full use of the regional accumulation rules of origin to participate in regional industrial chain supply chain cooperation, and expand cooperation in service trade, digital economy, green economy and other fields.
The Ministry of Commerce stated that it will continue to work with relevant departments to promote the high-quality implementation of RCEP and other free trade agreements, guide localities, industries and enterprises to make full use of the agreements, and continuously improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of free trade agreements. At the same time, with RCEP as a new starting point, we will negotiate and sign free trade agreements with more trading partners, expand the network of high-standard free trade areas facing the world, further improve the level of openness in goods trade, service trade and investment markets, and actively participate in the digital economy and environmental protection. Negotiations on new rules and other issues, steadily expanding the opening of rules, regulations, management, standards and other systems, better serving the construction of a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development.
