China News Agency, Beijing, August 9th. Zhong Shan, Minister of Commerce of China, recently stated that the situation facing China's foreign trade in the second half of the year will be more complicated and severe and will increase policy support.

  At present, China's foreign trade is gradually stabilizing. According to official data, China's exports in July increased by 10.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate hit a 17-month high. From January to July, China's total import and export value fell by 1.7% year-on-year, and the rate of decline narrowed by 1.5 percentage points from the first half of the year.

  In an interview with the media, Zhong Shan pointed out that in the second half of the year, the impact of the global economic downturn on demand will become more apparent, the supply chain of the industrial chain will be blocked, the trend of protectionism and anti-globalization will continue to heat up, and foreign trade companies will still face great pressure to survive. Efforts should be made to stabilize the main body of foreign trade, stabilize the supply chain of the industrial chain, and stabilize the status of a global trading country.

  He said that he will increase policy support and promote the introduction and implementation of a series of stabilization and relief policies such as export tax rebates, foreign trade credit, export credit insurance, and export to domestic sales, so that the policies will benefit more foreign trade companies. In addition, it will also support the development of new trade formats and models, and accelerate the implementation of the newly established e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone.

  Speaking of the situation of attracting foreign investment, Zhong Shan said frankly that under the impact of the epidemic, global cross-border investment has shrunk sharply. Some countries have encouraged industries to return, and international competition for investment has intensified. The pressure on China's industry to transfer abroad has increased and the use of foreign investment has become more difficult.

  He said that in the second half of the year, the focus will be on stabilizing the stock of foreign capital, expanding the increase in foreign capital, and maintaining the status of a major country in the use of foreign capital.

  At present, the national negative list of foreign investment access has been reduced from 40 to 33. Zhong Shan said that in the future, efforts will be made to implement the list and at the same time promote the expansion of the scope of pilot openings in the service industry. Revise the catalog of industries that encourage foreign investment to encourage more foreign businessmen to invest in the central and western regions and old industrial bases in the northeast.

  In addition, in the second half of the year, the Ministry of Commerce will issue a negative list of cross-border service trade, implement the Foreign Investment Law and supporting regulations, protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign businessmen, protect intellectual property rights, and create a stable, fair and transparent business environment.

  Zhong Shan said that China has a huge market of 1.4 billion people and a complete industrial supporting system, and the business environment is constantly improving. "I believe smart foreign businessmen will not abandon the Chinese market." (Finish)