(Focus on Boao) Xi Jinping mentioned the free trade port again. How can Hainan help build a new economic system?

　　China News Service, Boao, April 21st, title: Xi Jinping mentions the free trade port again, how can Hainan help build a new economic system?

　　China News Agency reporter Wang Ziqian

　　On April 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia 2021 Annual Conference, saying that China will actively participate in multilateral cooperation in trade and investment, fully implement the "Foreign Investment Law" and related supporting regulations, and continue to reduce foreign investment. Access to the negative list, promote the construction of a free trade port in Hainan, and promote the construction of a new higher-level open economic system.

　　This is the third time that China's top leader mentioned the Hainan Free Trade Port on a major occasion in the past six months.

　　On April 13, 2018, Xi Jinping announced at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of a provincial special economic zone in Hainan that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has decided to support the construction of a free trade pilot zone on the entire island of Hainan, and support Hainan to gradually explore and steadily promote the construction of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics.

　　Since the announcement of the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" in June 2020, Hainan's construction and development has attracted more attention from home and abroad.

At the 2021 annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is taking place here, the Free Trade Port became the theme of the sub-forum for the first time.

　　"The free trade port is the highest level of openness, and it has injected new impetus into global open cooperation in the post-epidemic period." Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, said that the Hainan Free Trade Port is a clear banner and an important opening door for China to open up in the new era. .

The Hainan Free Trade Port connects the two major markets of the Mainland and Southeast Asia. It will attract global flow of people, logistics, and capital, and provide new opportunities for countries to share China's big market.

Last year, China proposed to actively consider joining the CPTPP. Hainan Free Trade Port will take the initiative to connect and try first. For example, in the field of goods trade, it can make more convenient arrangements for certificates of origin and customs rulings.

　　Pascal Lamy, the former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), pointed out that the construction of a free trade port is a symbolic sign to promote free trade. It promotes trade facilitation and openness and is very worthy of being promoted by the World Trade Organization.

　　At present, China is building a new development pattern, and Hainan is expected to become the intersection of the domestic and international dual cycles, providing "experimental data" for deepening reform and opening up.

　　Lamy said, from the perspective of international experience, the free trade port has the conditions to become an economic engine and transmit production efficiency to the downstream of the industrial chain.

At the same time, the free trade port can also play a pioneering role in economic policies.

　　“Hainan Free Trade Port assumes the function of deepening reform internally and the function of opening up new heights to the outside.” Hainan Provincial Governor Feng Fei said that Hainan Free Trade Port has achieved remarkable results in the past year: the establishment of the free trade port’s policy system has been accelerated and the economy The quality of development has improved, the business environment has been further optimized, and various market entities and talents are coming in.

　　Zhao Jinping, a member of the Expert Advisory Committee on the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, said that global trade in services represented by tourism and transportation has been affected by the epidemic, and digital service trade represented by online transactions, education, and culture has developed rapidly.

Hainan Free Trade Port has free and convenient trade, capital, personnel exchanges, etc., which can effectively enhance the level of China's service trade.

　　The construction of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics in Hainan is a new exploration and there is no precedent to follow.

However, compared with Dubai, Hong Kong and other successful free trade ports, there is still experience to refer to.

　　"Efficiency is advocating." The chairman and CEO of Dubai World Group, the chairman of Dubai Port Customs and Free Trade Zone Group, and the chairman of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sultan Bensulem introduced that Dubai Port, Free Trade Zone and Customs adopt a trinity management Mode, remove trade barriers, and make all trades seamlessly connect.

　　Samir Hamoni, CEO of the World Free Zone Organization, said that the current global free trade port has a clear development trend: expand its horizons and seek broader international cooperation; through its leading role in the field of intelligence and digitalization, it will form a comprehensive An integrated ecological chain; to create a safe and effective business environment and reduce intervention in normal economic behavior, which is conducive to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of talents.

　　Building a global tourism consumption center is the goal of Hainan Free Trade Port.

Hong Kong has extensive experience in this field.

Fang Shunwen, president of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, believes that there is huge room for cooperation between the two parties in the consumer sector.

　　Fang Shunwen said that from the supply side, Hainan can use land resources for resource-intensive supplies such as warehousing and packaging, while Hong Kong can carry out international contacts and international financing, and cooperate with each other to form a more efficient supply chain; on the demand side, Hong Kong and Hainan It is possible to jointly build an international consumption center by sharing the domestic and international consumer markets.

　　Chi Fulin, Dean of the China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute, said that in the context of major changes in international relations, Hainan's high-level opening up will become a strategic move for China to promote the formation of a new type of international relations.

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