More and more open! China’s high-level opening to the outside world has made steady progress, and international economic and trade cooperation has achieved fruitful results.

Cctv newsOn August 20th, News Network and other columns reported that China’s high-level opening to the outside world was progressing steadily and international economic and trade cooperation was fruitful.

Shanghai Lingang New Area has initially formed an institutional open system.

Lingang New Area of China Pilot Free Trade Zone celebrated its fifth anniversary on August 20th. In the past five years, Lingang New Area has adhered to the international economic and trade rules on elevation standards,The institutional opening system of "five freedoms and one convenience" was initially established.

On August 20th, 44 key projects in Lingang New Area started. In the past five years, the investment in fixed assets of the whole society in Lingang New Area has grown at an average annual rate of over 30%.

In the past five years, Lingang New Area has adhered to the core of system innovation, and accelerated its bold exploration in the areas of investment freedom, trade freedom, capital freedom, transportation freedom, personnel employment freedom and fast information communication. Up to now, there have been 138 cases of breakthrough institutional innovation in Lingang New Area, of which 70 are the first in China. The regional GDP grew at an average annual rate of 19.8%, the actual amount of foreign direct investment increased at an average annual rate of 45.3%, and the import and export volume increased at an average annual rate of 37.5%. The reform and innovation tasks specified in the Master Plan of Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone have been basically completed, and more than 330 policies have been issued.

Ministry of Commerce of China: The trade volume between China and Africa reached US$ 282.1 billion in 2023.

The 2024 China-Africa Cooperation Forum Summit will be held in Beijing from September 4th to 6th. At the press conference of the State Council Information Office on August 20th, the relevant person in charge introduced that in recent years, the scale of China-Africa trade has hit record highs. In 2023, the trade volume between China and Africa reached US$ 282.1 billion, an increase of nearly 11% compared with that in 2021, setting a new historical peak for the second consecutive year.

According to the relevant person in charge, as the first three-year plan of China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, China and Africa have jointly implemented the "Nine Projects" since 2021. At present, all the aid and development cooperation projects to Africa under the "Nine Projects" have been implemented, and China-Africa investment cooperation has grown steadily.

Tang Wenhong, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China, said that by the end of 2023, China’s stock of direct investment in Africa exceeded 40 billion US dollars, making it one of the most important sources of foreign investment in Africa. In the past three years, enterprises in China have created more than 1.1 million local jobs, and made important contributions to increasing local tax revenue and earning foreign exchange through export.

According to the relevant person in charge, financial institutions and enterprises in China adhere to market principles and international rules to carry out investment and financing cooperation with Africa, fully respect the wishes of African countries and consider their actual needs. China has never attached any political conditions, so it is widely welcomed by Africa.

Shen Xiang, director of the west asia and africa Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that the China government has always adhered to the true concept of sincerity and the correct concept of justice and interests to carry out cooperation with Africa, and actively helped Africa alleviate the debt repayment pressure through multilateral and bilateral channels. Under the multilateral framework of the G-20 Debt Relief Initiative, China has actively participated in the handling of individual debts of Zambia and other countries, and played an active role in the Debt Committee, which has facilitated countries to reach debt relief plans.

Xu Dandan, a CCTV reporter from the General Station, said that the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce of China introduced that China has maintained its position as Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and a number of infrastructure and manufacturing projects have achieved results one by one. China also sent more than 500 agricultural experts to Africa and trained nearly 9,000 agricultural talents, which strongly supported the process of agricultural modernization in Africa. It is expected that this summit will better realize China-Africa development linkage and achievement sharing.

General Administration of Customs: In the first seven months of this year, the scale of China-Vietnam foreign trade increased by over 20%.

The General Administration of Customs recently announced that in the first seven months of this year, China imported and exported 1.03 trillion yuan to Vietnam, a year-on-year increase of 24.1%. Among them, exports were 647.8 billion yuan, up by 25.5%; Imports reached 382.9 billion yuan, up by 21.7%.

"Chongqing-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Map Scheduled Train" was successfully launched.

On the morning of August 20th, the first "Chongqing-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Map Scheduled Train" was successfully launched.

The first scheduled train of Chongqing-Shenzhen-Hong Kong is loaded with auto parts, electronic products and other goods. It will arrive in Yantian Port Area of Shenzhen within 2 days, then transfer to Kwai Tsing Port Area of Hong Kong, put on an international liner and send it to Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia.

The opening and operation of "Chongqing-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Map Scheduled Train" has added another new channel for the goods in Chengdu-Chongqing area to go to sea, and the economic circle of the twin cities in Chengdu-Chongqing area has a new connection with Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.