Expand the space for mutually beneficial international economic and trade cooperation

On July 30th, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. The meeting pointed out the need to expand the space for mutually beneficial international economic and trade cooperation.

In the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan, China will better coordinate the domestic and international situations, share opportunities and develop together with other countries, by fully implementing zero tariff measures for 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations, approving the overall plan for the Inner Mongolia Pilot Free Trade Zone, and establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization.

The International Monetary Fund recently predicted that the global trade growth rate will slow down from 5% in 2025 to 3.5% in 2026. It can be foreseen that the prospects for international economic and trade cooperation in the second half of the year are still not optimistic.

To cope with external uncertainties with the certainty of their own development, all regions and departments will continue to steadfastly expand high-level opening up to the outside world, promote innovative and balanced trade development with more pragmatic policy measures, promote coordinated efforts in two-way investment, and continue to make positive contributions to global economic and trade development.

Vigorously develop service trade

Open road testing was launched in the UK and Switzerland, and commercial operation of all driverless vehicles was launched in the United Arab Emirates... This year, Baidu's driverless travel service platform Apollo Go accelerated its deployment in the global market.

"The driverless travel service is a typical knowledge intensive service trade, and it is a new race track for China to serve the sea." Yang Nan, vice president of Baidu and general manager of the overseas business department of the intelligent driving business group, said that at present, Apollo Go has landed in 27 cities around the world, and has completed more than 22 million trips in total.

At present, the international trade pattern is undergoing structural changes, and service trade is increasingly becoming a new driving force for trade growth. In response to the new trend of international industrial cooperation, China is promoting the expansion and quality improvement of the service industry, promoting open cooperation in the service industry, and vigorously developing service trade.

In the first half of the year, China's total import and export of services was 3779.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%. Among them, exports amounted to 1504.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%, and achieved impressive results.

The export of services in both traditional and emerging fields in our country is accelerating simultaneously, "said Li Jun, director of the Institute of International Trade in Services at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce." Traditional fields have benefited from the facilitation of entry policies, leading to a rapid growth in inbound tourists. In the first half of the year, China's travel service exports increased by 31.1% year-on-year. In emerging fields, the export of knowledge intensive services such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and data processing is also accelerating.

Next month, the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will be held soon. Currently, more than 60 countries, regions, and international organizations have confirmed the establishment of exhibition halls, including over 300 Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders.

We need to accelerate the construction of national service trade innovation and development demonstration zones and digital trade demonstration zones, explore the formation of a more sound system for service trade innovation and development, create a better business environment, and build the 'China Service' brand. Li Jun believes that with continuous policy efforts and solid industrial foundations, service trade is expected to continue its high-quality development momentum. Among them, the fields of travel services, telecommunications, computer information services, and professional services will constitute the main support for the sustained growth of service trade.

Promote balanced development of trade

Taking stock of the performance report of the first half of the year, there is a highlight worth paying attention to: the import of goods exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time in history during the same period, with a growth rate of 22.1%, which is 8.7 percentage points higher than the export rate.

The momentum is still continuing. In the first seven months, China's imports increased by 22%, with a growth rate 8 percentage points higher than exports.

Wang Jun, Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Customs, stated that China has orderly expanded its independent and unilateral opening-up, implemented zero tariff policies for 63 countries, and held international exhibitions such as the Import Expo, Consumer Expo, and Chain Expo, providing a "window" for global goods to enter the Chinese market. In the first half of the year, China's imports from more than 150 countries and regions achieved growth.

Recently, a batch of South African imported grapefruit raw materials from Zhejiang Ningbo Shanyou Food Co., Ltd. were successfully delivered to the factory and put into deep processing production line, making tea drink specific fruit granules, canned food, and non concentrated reduced fruit juice. On May 1st of this year, China officially implemented zero tariff measures for 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations, effectively reducing the burden and empowering enterprises.

Relying on high-quality African raw materials and zero tariff measures, food companies in Ningbo, such as Shanyou Food, have further consolidated their supply chain advantages, stabilized their market position with high cost-effectiveness and high-quality fruit and vegetable deep processing products, and formed a benign development model of 'importing African raw materials, local deep processing, and serving the national tea beverage market', "said the relevant person in charge of Ningbo Customs.

Since the beginning of this year, the customs have actively expanded the import access of agricultural and food products. African countries with diplomatic relations have obtained import access for dried chili peppers, cashews, as well as Uruguayan pistachio, Belgian apples, Cambodian longan and other agricultural and food products.

Proactively expanding imports and promoting balanced trade development, the Ministry of Commerce held nearly 40 "Sharing the Big Market and Exporting to China" series of events worldwide in the first half of the year, inviting the United Kingdom, Spain, Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Thailand as the theme countries for the events.

China's active expansion of imports is a strategic move that conforms to the historical trend and is rooted in the new development concept. It is committed to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation with other countries, and achieving long-term goals through joint efforts. "Yang Tao, Director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to polish the" export to China "brand, adhere to the dual wheel drive of" policy+activity ", and continuously release the policy dividends of expanding imports.

Expand bilateral investment cooperation

The 9th CIIE has not yet started, and some foreign-funded enterprises are eager to sign contracts to participate in the 10th CIIE, promising a ten-year contract.

Not long ago, the 100 day countdown event for the 9th CIIE was held in Shanghai. The first batch of 68 enterprises collectively signed up to participate in the 10th CIIE, with a contracted exhibition area of over 50000 square meters. More than 30 companies have clearly stated their intention to enter the CIIE, and Medtronic is one of them.

From full attendance at the CIIE to long-term companions, it demonstrates Medtronic's firm determination to deeply cultivate the Chinese market, "said Gu Yushao, Senior Vice President and President of Greater China at Medtronic. He hopes to rely on the CIIE as an open cooperation platform to introduce more global leading medical technologies, promote the deep integration of global innovation and local demand in China, and accelerate more Chinese innovation to go global.

This year, facing multiple factors such as the turbulent international situation and insufficient momentum for global cross-border investment cooperation, China actively expands two-way investment cooperation. On the one hand, it actively attracts and utilizes foreign investment, and on the other hand, it improves its foreign investment management system and overseas comprehensive service system.

Based on the needs of enterprises' international development, Shanghai has integrated 11 major sectors such as foreign investment, entry-exit services, and 83 enterprises' high-frequency government affairs, created a unified main website, WeChat official account, and WeChat applet of Shanghai's comprehensive service platform for enterprises going global, and launched 405 professional service products to provide one-stop services for enterprises going global.

"In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to improve the management and service system of foreign investment cooperation, and promote international cooperation in the production supply chain through trade and investment, guided by the high-quality co construction of the the Belt and Road," said Yan Dong, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce.