By Wang Junling, Liu Zibing
The upcoming 2nd China International Import Expo 2019 (CIIE) is expected to further integrate imported goods into the lives of Chinese consumers and help foreign enterprises and businessmen profit more from the transformation and upgrading of Chinese market.
With the continuously expanding influence of the first CIIE, more and more imported goods have entered the daily life of Chinese citizens through such channels as foreign-funded chain convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Lawson, large-scale traditional hypermarkets, theme shopping malls, boutiques, and online shopping platforms.
The prevalence of imported goods in China reflects huge opportunities created by China’s continued efforts to expand opening-up.
According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, in the recent 10 years, China’s value of trade in imported food has been growing by an annual average of 17.4 percent, and its annual value of trade in food imports exceeded $70 billion in 2018 for the first time.
So far, 2,283 kinds of imported food from 176 countries and regions have been listed in its admittance management, 18,295 foreign companies have been granted approval to sell food to China, and 33,059 import and export agents have been approved for registration
Experts pointed out that China’s initiative of expanding imports is not only a foreign trade policy, but one of the country’s important measures to expand opening-up, which is significant to both Chinese economy and global economic development.
China has lowered its overall tariff level to 7.5 percent, much lower than that of most developing countries and close to the level of developed countries and markets, said Qian Keming, vice minister of Ministry of Commerce, when elaborating on China’s achievements in opening-up a few days ago.
In the future, China will continue focusing on negative list on the market access of foreign investment while promoting investment liberalization and accelerating the comprehensive implementation of opening-up measures including the 2019 version of negative list on the market access of foreign investment in general and that for pilot free trade zones.
China’s constantly intensified efforts at rolling out various policies on opening-up are helping bring imports to the everyday life of Chinese consumers faster.
The State Council’s executive meeting at the end of July identified a number of measures in stimulating consumption and boosting industrial upgrading, including adjusting and expanding the list of retail import goods in cross-border e-commerce, allowing processing and manufacturing companies in comprehensive bonded zones to take commissioned domestic processing businesses from outside the zones, attracting world renowned brands to launch their new products in China.
China released the 2019 version of negative list on the market access of foreign investment in general and that for pilot free trade zones, published the catalogue of encouraged foreign investment industries, newly established 6 pilot free trade zones, and is going to implement a new foreign investment law from January 1, 2020, according to a report by Spanish news agency Agencia EFE.
China is opening more and more areas to the rest of the world and constantly improving its investment environment, which will generate more opportunities for the development of other countries in the world, said the report.
China’ opening its door to the world brings precious gifts to the world, said South African Minister of Small Business Development Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, noting that South Africa is very looking forward to the second CIIE.
The CIIE has built an important platform for economic and trade cooperation among various countries in the world, said Ntshavheni, adding that it is evident that the CIIE has played a significant role in promoting international free trade and investment cooperation.
Last year, the value of trade between China and South Africa amounted to a record high of $43.5 billion, disclosed Ntshavheni, saying that the country hopes to further improve the popularity of South African goods and enterprises in China through the second CIIE.
“During the 1st CIIE, JD.com signed contracts for the purchase of nearly 100 billion yuan (about $14.17 billion) worth of imports. The 2nd CIIE will house more new products and new technologies with higher quality than last year, which means more outstanding enterprises and products will join the event,” said Yu Ronghua, an executive of JD Worldwide, a cross-border e-commerce platform of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com.
JD Worldwide will make full use of the platform offered by the CIIE and strive to build good cooperative relations with other outstanding enterprises and brands, said Yu, stressing that JD Worldwide will make sustained efforts to improve the shopping experiences of consumers.
(Source: People’s Daily)
