Accelerate the integration of domestic and foreign trade development

The integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an important task to implement the new development concept, construct a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development. From the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposing to "improve the integrated regulation system of domestic and foreign trade", to the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clarifying to "accelerate the reform of integrated domestic and foreign trade", to the Central Economic Work Conference in 2025 emphasizing to "promote the integration of trade and investment and the development of domestic and foreign trade", the "Outline of the 15th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China" deploys the promotion of integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has continuously deepened its understanding of promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, and relevant policy deployments have been continuously promoted. In the period of the 15th Five Year Plan, we should further enhance the cross market operation capability of enterprises, the level of industrial coordinated development, and the efficiency of policy services, and promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade to a new level.

1、 Accurately grasping the significance of promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade

Integration of domestic and foreign trade refers to promoting effective integration of domestic and foreign trade rules and systems, market channels, resource elements, and business entities, and promoting deep integration and coordinated development of domestic and international markets. Promoting the integration of domestic and foreign trade is not just about encouraging enterprises to engage in both domestic and foreign trade. Its core lies in promoting industrial integration through market integration, and systematically upgrading the industrial chain, supply chain, and value chain through factor flow. This is of great significance for building a new development pattern, constructing a modern industrial system, and accelerating the construction of a strong trading nation.

An important support for building a new development pattern. The key to building a new development pattern is to fully leverage the advantages of the domestic super large scale market and enhance the linkage effect between the domestic and international markets and resources. The current global industrial and supply chains are accelerating restructuring, the international economic and trade environment is complex and changing, and external uncertainty is significantly increasing. China has a super large market with a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of over 400 million. The industrial system is complete and the supporting capabilities are outstanding. The domestic market has strong pressure bearing capacity and room for maneuver. Promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is conducive to facilitating the smooth flow of goods, services, technology, capital, talent, data and other factors on a larger scale, promoting effective connection between domestic and foreign markets, and enhancing the flexibility and risk response capabilities of enterprise market layout. By promoting the connection between production and sales and supply-demand balance, it can promote mutual support and promotion between domestic and international markets, further enhancing the resilience of the economic cycle. By opening up internal and external sales channels, it is beneficial to promote the smooth entry of high-quality foreign trade products into the domestic market, meet the increasingly diverse and high-quality consumption needs of urban and rural residents, open up new growth space for enterprises, diversify market risks, and better leverage the driving role of consumption in the economic cycle, further expanding domestic demand.

The inherent requirements for building a modern industrial system. In the process of long-term participation in international competition, foreign trade enterprises have accumulated rich experience in product quality, production organization, brand operation, technological innovation, and standard certification. Promoting their development of the domestic market is conducive to transforming the technological, management, and brand advantages formed in the international market into domestic industrial upgrading momentum. Domestic trade enterprises are familiar with domestic consumer demand and business models, have strong localization operation capabilities, and support their expansion into international markets, which is conducive to enhancing the ability of domestic enterprises to participate in global division of labor. The integrated development of domestic and foreign trade will also drive the development of productive service industries such as research and development design, inspection and testing, modern logistics, finance and insurance, intellectual property, and exhibition marketing, promote the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, and push the industrial system towards high-end, intelligent, and green direction.

An important way to accelerate the construction of a strong trading nation. To move from a trading power to a trading powerhouse, it is necessary to promote the transformation of trade from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, and from cost advantages to technological, brand, standard, service, and rule advantages. Promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an important way to achieve the above transformation, and its role is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: firstly, cultivating a group of high-quality enterprises with strong domestic and international market competitiveness at the micro subject level, and supporting qualified enterprises to grow into multinational enterprises with global competitiveness. The second is to accelerate the integration of Chinese products, Chinese brands, and Chinese standards into the international market at the industrial level. Promoting high-quality products and brands forged in the domestic market competition to the world can enhance the overall image and international competitiveness of "Made in China", "Chinese Service", and "Chinese Brand". The third is to enhance China's ability to participate in the formulation of global economic and trade rules and global economic governance at the national level. By promoting better integration between domestic standards, certifications, regulatory systems, and international rules, it can not only reduce cross market operating costs for enterprises, but also enhance the openness, transparency, and international adaptability of China's economic and trade system, strengthen the ability of enterprises to participate in international rule practice, and provide basic support for China's deeper participation in the formulation of international economic and trade rules and global economic governance.

2、 The main obstacles to promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade

In recent years, China has made positive progress in the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and the willingness of enterprises to participate has continued to increase. However, there are still some obstacles in market channel connection, brand cultivation, research and development design, modern service industry support, business entity cultivation, industrial ecology optimization, intellectual property protection, and policy implementation. We should adhere to a problem oriented and systematic approach, further improve the policy system, overcome development bottlenecks, strengthen the role of enterprises as the main body, and promote greater achievements in the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade.

At the operational level, enterprises still face multiple challenges. The connection between internal and external sales channels is not smooth enough, and the ability of enterprises to expand their markets needs to be improved. Although many outward oriented enterprises have certain international competitiveness, they face difficulties such as unfamiliar sales channels, insufficient consumer awareness, and lack of marketing capabilities after entering the domestic market. Some export-oriented enterprises in the eastern coastal foreign trade towns have invested a large amount of resources to explore the domestic market, but still face difficulties in profitability and weak growth. Domestic sales enterprises also face many bottlenecks in expanding into international markets, such as a lack of international marketing networks and unfamiliarity with target market consumption habits. The cultivation of corporate brands is facing bottlenecks. Some foreign trade enterprises have long relied on OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) and other contract manufacturing models, with relatively weak brand awareness and brand operation capabilities, and low awareness and market influence of their own brands. Despite the increasing demand for high-quality products in the domestic market, there is still significant room for improvement in the influence and market coverage of many enterprises' independent brands. Many companies still have significant differences in brand positioning, product line configuration, and other aspects in domestic and international markets, making it difficult to form a unified brand image and market competitiveness. Insufficient R&D design and achievement transformation capabilities of enterprises. Some enterprises have long relied on OEM production, with insufficient investment in research and development, design, and product development capabilities; The mechanism for industry university research collaboration and the transformation of innovative achievements is not yet perfect, and the increase in product added value and brand influence is slow. Of particular concern is that insufficient R&D capabilities and lagging brand cultivation often constrain each other: companies lacking independent R&D capabilities find it difficult to form differentiated competitive advantages, and the space for brand premium is limited; However, the insufficient brand influence makes it difficult for enterprises to support sustained R&D investment, forming a negative cycle that restricts the integrated operation of domestic and foreign trade.

The policy and institutional levels need to be optimized. The standards, certification, credit and other systems for domestic and foreign trade have not been effectively connected yet. There are different requirements between the domestic and international markets in terms of product standards, quality certification, inspection and testing, and corporate credit evaluation. Enterprises need to undergo repeated certification and information disclosure, which increases operating costs and time costs. The intellectual property protection system needs further improvement. In some regions, the cost of intellectual property infringement is relatively low, and the cost and cycle of rights protection are long. This not only has a negative impact on the innovation investment and international competitiveness of enterprises, but also restricts their outward investment and overseas market development. The existing preferential policies do not match the internal assessment system of financial and insurance institutions. Some places provide special funding support or tax incentives for enterprise import and export, market development, research and development innovation, but the assessment mechanisms of commercial banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions overly emphasize short-term benefits and risk control, and lack incentives for financing support and insurance product innovation for integrated domestic and foreign trade enterprises, which affects the actual effectiveness of preferential policies.

There are deficiencies at the level of industrial organization. There are not many trade enterprises with international competitiveness, and the number of trade enterprises with global resource allocation and comprehensive service capabilities is relatively small. The resources, channels, knowledge, and capabilities for cross-border operations of enterprises are generally lacking, and the depth and breadth of participation in global competition are still insufficient. Enterprises with certain international competitiveness are mainly concentrated in specific industries and the eastern region. The majority of small and medium-sized enterprises generally have weak financial strength, insufficient risk resistance ability, and high costs of exploring new markets. Strengthening the management team still requires continuous efforts. The support system of modern service industry is not perfect enough. From the perspective of some regions and industrial clusters, there are still structural weaknesses in the modern service industry that support the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The development of technology-based productive service industries such as information services and research and development design is relatively insufficient, and the key service capabilities supporting the development of the domestic and foreign trade system are not strong enough; There are obvious shortcomings in cross market credit, underwriting, and risk assessment in financial services; The development of knowledge intensive business services such as accounting, auditing, testing and certification, consulting, legal, and intellectual property is still insufficient; The collaborative development level of cultural and tourism creativity, e-commerce, exhibitions, and modern logistics industry still needs to be improved. The industrial ecology needs further optimization. There is still significant room for improvement in the business environment in some regions, and there are still obvious shortcomings in the industry and innovation ecosystem. Attracting and retaining locally rooted leading enterprises, enhancing the rootedness of key enterprises and key industrial chain links, cultivating supporting industrial chains, strengthening competitive business entities in branding, research and development, design, services, etc., and attracting domestic and foreign capital investment and development all face significant challenges.

3、 The main path to accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade

Promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is not only an important measure to respond to changes in the external environment and stabilize the economic cycle, but also an inherent requirement to unleash the potential of the domestic market and promote industrial transformation and upgrading. Promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is a systematic project that requires coordinated efforts from the three levels of enterprise operation, policy system, and industrial organization to address the above-mentioned obstacles and form a strong synergy for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. Emphasize the demonstration effect, systematically summarize and promote typical experiences of representative enterprises and regions in promoting integrated domestic and foreign trade operations, and provide replicable and referenceable paths. Establish a sound policy implementation evaluation mechanism, track the effectiveness of policy implementation, adjust and optimize support measures in a timely manner, and enhance the accuracy and adaptability of domestic and foreign trade integration policies.

Promote strategic innovation at the enterprise management level. Expand domestic and international market channels, establish a diversified market system, guide enterprises to establish a combination of online and offline domestic sales channels, and comprehensively use e-commerce platforms, live streaming, exhibitions, retail terminals and other forms to expand the domestic market; Improve overseas marketing network, reasonably layout flagship stores, experience stores and other overseas retail terminals, enhance brand reach and consumer awareness; Support enterprises to participate in international exhibitions and product promotion activities, enhance brand international awareness and market influence. Cultivate independent brands, build a brand system with market competitiveness, encourage enterprises to actively cultivate independent brands in domestic market competition, accumulate brand assets and market awareness; Support high-quality enterprises and products to enter the international market as independent brands, and create a group of globally renowned Chinese brands; Encourage enterprises to draw on advanced international brand management concepts and continuously improve their brand management system; At the same time, if conditions permit, support enterprises to expand overseas brands and channel resources through mergers and acquisitions, agency, and other means. Strengthen R&D and design investment, enhance product and service innovation capabilities, increase tax incentives and financial subsidies for enterprise R&D innovation, encourage enterprises to increase R&D investment, and establish sound R&D and design centers; Support enterprises to strengthen original innovation and cutting-edge technology research and development, and develop high value-added products and services; Promote collaborative innovation among universities, research institutions, and enterprises, establish joint research and development and achievement transformation mechanisms, and accelerate the transformation of innovative achievements into practical productivity.

Accelerate the improvement at the policy and institutional levels. Improve the basic institutional environment and eliminate institutional barriers. Promote the effective integration of standards, certifications, inspection and testing, and regulatory service rules related to domestic and foreign trade, and reduce the burden of repeated certification, testing, and submission of materials by enterprises; Expand the scope of mutual recognition and acceptance of qualified testing and certification results; Promote the integration of rules such as product coding, product classification, and quality information, and facilitate smoother circulation of product information in domestic and international markets; Establish and improve the enterprise credit evaluation system, promote the lawful sharing, authorized use, and convenient application of market credit information on the premise of compliance with laws and regulations, ensuring data security and trade secrets. Strengthen the full chain protection of intellectual property rights. Establish a sound punitive damages system for intellectual property rights, strictly punish malicious infringement and repeated infringement behaviors, effectively increase the cost of illegal activities, and enhance the deterrent power of the system; Optimize the process of handling rights protection cases, shorten the disposal cycle, broaden diversified dispute resolution channels, and effectively reduce the cost of enterprise rights protection; Simultaneously improve the overseas intellectual property rights protection assistance system, strengthen overseas risk warning and compliance guidance, and provide strong guarantees for foreign investment layout and overseas market development. Optimize the financial services and policy support system. Guide banks and insurance institutions to improve credit, underwriting, and risk assessment mechanisms that are compatible with the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and enhance their financial and insurance service capabilities for cross market operations of enterprises; Improve the collaborative mechanism between export credit insurance and domestic trade credit insurance, and develop more adaptable credit insurance products to meet the risk protection needs of enterprises in exploring new markets and expanding the domestic market; Encourage the establishment of a financial service coordination mechanism for integrated domestic and foreign trade enterprises, providing more convenient financing, settlement, insurance, and risk management services for enterprises.

Strengthen the development foundation at the level of industrial organization. Strengthen backbone trading enterprises, guide and support qualified trading enterprises to carry out international operations, promote the establishment of supply chain management systems for both domestic and international markets, and enhance global procurement, distribution, logistics, marketing, and after-sales service capabilities. Accelerate the integrated development of productive service industries, promote the integration of services such as research and development design, inspection and testing, certification and accreditation, modern logistics, supply chain management, finance and insurance, accounting and auditing, legal consulting, and intellectual property into the entire process of the industrial chain, and enhance the technical, compliance, and transaction service capabilities of enterprises in cross market operations. Promote the coordinated development of commerce, culture and tourism, e-commerce, exhibitions and modern logistics, and enhance the functions of related service industries in exploring domestic and international markets. Optimize overseas warehouse support policies, guide enterprises to reasonably layout overseas warehouses and overseas marketing networks, and enhance the comprehensive service capabilities of overseas warehouses in warehousing, distribution, after-sales, maintenance, and brand marketing. Optimize the integrated industrial ecology of domestic and foreign trade, improve the upstream and downstream coordination mechanism of key industrial chains, enhance supply chain resilience and industrial system stability. Support key enterprises and key supporting enterprises to form stable cooperative relationships locally, enhance the agglomeration degree of key industries and local supporting capabilities. Accelerate the development of high value-added, knowledge intensive productive service industries and high-tech industries, support enterprises to enhance their competitiveness in areas such as brand cultivation, research and development design, and supply chain management, and form a business entity echelon for coordinated development of large, medium, and small enterprises. Continuously optimizing the business environment, improving the industrial innovation ecosystem, enhancing public service and factor guarantee capabilities, and providing solid support for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade.