Higher starting point, stronger characteristics, greater potential-
What happened to the fifth batch of free trade zones this year?
A few days ago, Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan talked about stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment and said that he would further promote the pilot free trade zone, actively carry out differentiated exploration, and form more system innovations that can be replicated and promoted.
In August 2019, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan, and Heilongjiang became the fifth batch of pilot provinces for free trade pilot zones, and the lineup of China’s pilot free trade zones expanded to 18. Different from the previous batches of pilot free trade zones, the fifth batch has undertaken the task of "differentiated exploration" since its establishment. By August this year, the fifth batch of pilot free trade zones had been in operation for one full year. In general, the six pilot free trade zones actively learn from the previous batch of pilot experiences on the one hand, and on the other hand, they actively combine their own location characteristics to explore and form another batch of opening up results, which will inject local economic and social development and even China’s opening up. A new impetus.
Build a nest to attract the phoenix, open up and out of acceleration
A pilot free trade zone (referred to as a "free trade zone") is an open form in which sovereign countries or regions delineate specific areas in the form of "international customs" to facilitate cross-border trade and investment. In the past year since the establishment of the fifth batch of free trade zones, many achievements have been made.
From Caoqiao Station of Beijing Metro Line 10, it only takes 20 minutes to reach Beijing Daxing International Airport. Relying on this new airport shaped like a phoenix, the Daxing Airport area of the China (Hebei) Pilot Free Trade Zone has ushered in a reform opportunity and has become a new experimental field for the opening up of North China.
Beijing Leyi International Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd. is a standard foreign-invested enterprise. On July 8, the company successfully handled the sale and payment of foreign exchange for trade in goods at the Beijing Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. This was the first cross-border financial business in the free trade zone in Beijing. With cross-border facilitation services, the processing process that would have taken a week was completed in just one day.
"The Daxing Free Trade Zone has the unique advantages of a free trade zone, a comprehensive free trade zone, and Beijing's service industry expansion policy. It will have more room for policy innovation in industrial development and talent attraction, and become a policy integration and innovation highland for reform and development. We The industrial planning and regulatory detailed planning of the free trade zone have been clarified to provide support and basis for the regional investment promotion." said Shen Jianmin, head of the Daxing Airport Area (Beijing Daxing) Office of the Hebei Free Trade Zone.
Build a nest to attract phoenix, and the opening up brought by the free trade zone is visible and tangible.
Not long ago, the "Dialogue Shandong-Japan·Shandong Industry Cooperation and Exchange Conference" was held in the Jinan area of the Shandong Free Trade Zone. Jinan Central Hospital and Japan Toray Co., Ltd. cooperated to introduce advanced dialysis technology and dialysis systems, and jointly prepare for the establishment of a high-level international The dialysis center signs a framework agreement.
It is understood that the Sino-Japanese International Medical Science and Technology Park where the project is located is an important part of the Shandong Free Trade Zone to build a vertical ecological system for the biomedical industry. It promotes the international development of the medical industry by introducing high-quality foreign medical resources and grafting high-level specialist diagnosis and treatment technologies. . In this process, Jinan Central Hospital will also unite professional talents from pharmaceutical companies, university scientific research institutes and other units to innovate the international cooperation model, and promote itself to transform from a "therapeutic medical institution" to a "R&D medical institution". The level of medical services for local residents, and it brings new opportunities for the development of the pharmaceutical industry.
"For China and Japan, science and technology exchanges are indispensable, and we look forward to learning together and establishing a mutually beneficial relationship. This is important for both China and Japan in the future," said Kenki Okimura, chief researcher of the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
In the Yantai area of the Shandong Free Trade Zone, relevant departments have not only formulated the Implementation Rules for Cross-border Approval Services, so that foreign investors can quickly apply for business licenses and operating permits for the Yantai area of the Free Trade Zone without going abroad, but also resume work in foreign-funded enterprises Provide a full range of caring services for resuming production. For example, affected by the epidemic, in February of this year, many foreign-funded enterprises in the area, such as Xixing Electronics and LG Display, once faced logistics difficulties and recruitment difficulties. To this end, local business contact specialists took the initiative to "knock at the door and enter the house", stationed in the factory area for careful guidance, formulated scientific and reasonable prevention and control plans, coordinated the shuttle bus to solve the problem of cross-regional work, and helped the company to resume work quickly and orderly.
"The state has given the Yantai area the test task of'deepening the regional cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, and creating a pilot zone for Sino-Korea trade and investment cooperation'. It is hoped that Yantai will give full play to this characteristic and serve the national strategy." Management Committee of the Yantai Area of Shandong Free Trade Zone Director Mu Shuqing said.
Try first to release corporate vitality
From the Heilongjiang Free Trade Zone’s pilot project of “focusing on licenses and commitments on behalf of certificates”, allowing more information to run and enterprises less errands, to the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone, more than 60 provincial initiatives have been implemented in the past year. 115 system innovation experience cases, and then implement efficient approval services in the Yunnan Free Trade Zone, and set up a “24-hour non-closing” self-service area... In the past year, the fifth batch of free trade zones have demonstrated their capabilities, tried first, and continued Promote the release of the vitality of enterprises in the zone.
On the morning of August 5th, Guangxi Pingxiang Customs held the AEO Advanced Certification Enterprise Certification Ceremony for Guangxi Dazhou International Logistics Co., Ltd. The company became the first customs brokerage company in Guangxi to pass the AEO advanced certification, and at the same time the only customs brokerage AEO certified company in the Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone. It is understood that "AEO" is the English abbreviation of "certified operator", which aims to pass the certification of the company's law-abiding, credit status and safety level, so as to give the company corresponding customs clearance convenience and ensure that under the premise of trade security, Reduce customs clearance time and improve trade efficiency. Up to now, China Customs has achieved AEO mutual recognition with 42 countries and regions in 15 economies including Singapore, South Korea, the European Union, and Japan.
For Guangxi Dazhou International Logistics Co., Ltd., which is engaged in international freight forwarding and international railway transportation, obtaining AEO advanced certification will undoubtedly bring great benefits to its further expansion of the ASEAN market. "The golden signboard of the customs AEO advanced certification provides our company with great convenience in the import and export process, reduces the cost of customs clearance, and also improves international competitiveness and customer trust." General Manager Zhao Runba said happily .
According to Zhang Yaofeng, Deputy Commissioner of Pingxiang Customs, in the next step, Pingxiang Customs will continue to guide and help more high-quality enterprises to pass AEO certification, further reduce their customs clearance costs and help them seize opportunities for open development.
In the Suzhou area of the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone, AliExpress and the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation agreement to develop cross-border e-commerce, explore and realize the transformation and upgrading of Suzhou's superior industries and traditional foreign trade enterprises.
Suzhou Vickers is a high-end power tool brand that has been operating in overseas markets for many years and has a mature offline export system. However, affected by the epidemic, traditional offline channels have been blocked, and companies have begun to realize the urgency of opening up the cross-border online retail market, and also believe that e-commerce and online are the future trends. In the first half of this year, Vickers entered AliExpress and opened up new overseas markets in Russia, Brazil, and Spain through AliExpress. In the first three months of entering AliExpress, Vickers' turnover on AliExpress reached a scale of $60,000 per month. Recently, Vickers began stocking overseas warehouses again.
"At present, 50% of the products on AliExpress are not available in offline channels. With the help of the Free Trade Zone and AliExpress, we can get the latest first-hand customer information, which is convenient for planning what users really need. Products, at the same time, have more autonomy in product selection and pricing, without being restricted to offline merchants. In this efficient business environment, we believe that as long as the products can meet the needs of users, we will not worry about the market." Keshi e-commerce director Ji Jinlu told our reporter.
Differentiated reform to promote regional development
The starting point of opening up is development, and the foothold is still developing. Today, the construction of the free trade zone is becoming a powerful booster for regional economic development.
According to Fang Wei, the mayor of Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, the Lianyungang area of the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone has optimized and integrated the port function layout and accelerated the construction of projects such as automobile roll-on-roll terminals, complete vehicle import infrastructure, and cruise supporting facilities. There are 71 and 11 Haihe River combined transportation routes, realizing full coverage of the Jianghuai River Basin. At the same time, Lianyungang is also building a comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce to foster new models and business forms of international trade; build a pilot zone for open exchange and sharing of Internet data under the “Belt and Road” initiative to unblock the soft channel for platform economic development. These measures have injected new impetus into local development.
Kou Jie, deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce, said that the entire Yunnan Free Trade Zone’s support policies are designed for enterprises and there are many practical measures. For example, special support can be given to leading-type and base-type investment projects with a total investment of more than 1 billion yuan; another example is that for newly established trading companies, within 5 years of obtaining the first main business income, Local economic contributions will be rewarded according to a certain proportion; another example is to support private capital and independent third-party service agencies to invest in the establishment of financial leasing companies in the Pilot Free Trade Zone...
In the view of Peng Zhiwei, director of the Department of International Economics and Trade of Nankai University, the smooth operation of the fifth batch of free trade zones indicates that China has formed a full coverage of the eastern coast (except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), the participation of central and western provinces, and the north to Heilongjiang, Distribution pattern from the south to Hainan. In addition, it has formed relatively comprehensive support for the "Belt and Road" initiative, the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, laying a solid foundation for China to adapt to the new trend of economic globalization and actively participate in global economic governance.
"Objectively, the first four batches of free trade zones have provided a large number of lessons for the development of the fifth batch of free trade zones in terms of basic and systematic system innovation. The fifth batch of free trade zone members are There are significant differences in industrial structure and geographical location. This also means that the construction of this batch of free trade zones pays more attention to the characteristics and advantages of each region, and differentiated reform is the key content of the fifth batch of free trade zones.” Peng Zhiwei Said that the fifth batch of free trade zones combined with local characteristics to promote institutional reforms, improve the business environment, promote the complementary advantages of resources and industries in different provinces and regions, and promote the coordinated development of domestic regional economies.
Peng Zhiwei said that this expansion and upgrading will help promote the unification of domestic regional commodity and factor markets, help multinational companies in China to find the most suitable resource allocation location for their global development strategy, and enhance China's attraction and concentration of global high-quality production factors. ability. "In the future, relevant departments should give the free trade zone greater reform autonomy under the premise of properly handling the relationship between reform and stability. All localities should closely integrate their own characteristics to carry out differentiated reform pilots, and better use the free trade zone as a reform and opening up. The traction of New Heights."
Wang Junling