In the Action Plan For Chongqing to Pioneer in Opening-Up in Inland China and Serve the Belt and Road, the second action is to promote the opening-up platforms and accelerate to build Chongqing into an international gateway and hub.

How to push forward the upgrade of opening-up platforms? On October 25, the question was answered in an interview with Zhang Zhikui, Director of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce; Han Baochang, Director of Chongqing China-Singapore Project Administration Bureau; Wang Zhijie, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Party Work Committee and Executive Deputy Director of Liangjiang New Area Administrative Committee; and Luo Shuquan, President of Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park. Construction Co., Ltd.

New development of new platforms and further contributions of old ones

Reporter: The opening-up platform system plays a core and carrying role for Chongqing to pioneer in opening-up in inland China and serve the Belt and Road. How will Chongqing build the main battlefield?

Zhang Zhikui: The national opening-up platform will be the main battlefield for Chongqing to develop its export-oriented economy, the pilot area for the transformation and upgrading of industrial sectors, and the front line for opening up and innovation. In this regard, Chongqing boasts abundant resources and a solid foundation. Currently, we need to shift from “having it or not” to “performing it well or not” and push the new development of new platforms and ensure further contributions of old ones.

There are four aspects in achieving this goal,

First, make strategic platforms better and stronger. Building a national strategic platform plays a leading and significant role in Chongqing’s opening up. China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone will take institutional innovation as the core, conduct an initiative and differentiation reform exploration and form more duplicable and promotable achievements. Liangjiang New Area will strive to develop the digital economy. It will perform its role in pilot and demonstration of reform and innovation, optimize management system and mechanism and accelerate to build itself into an essential gateway of opening-up in inland China.

Second, upgrade and invigorate industrial park platforms. Industrial parks are significant carriers to expand the opening up. They play a decisive role in the open economy. Currently, Chongqing holds seven state-level hi-tech zones and economic development zones and 39 city-level economic development zones. With the land area of less than 2% of the total, they have contributed to over 30% of the GDP, 80% of the industrial growth, and 40% of the foreign investment in actual use. In the future, Chongqing will deepen the reform on the management system for industrial parks, optimize the market operation mechanism and stimulate their development vitality, thus forming a thriving scenario where various players contend.

Third, ensure the uniqueness and inject vitality into functional platforms. Chongqing will promote the combined development between special customs supervision areas and ports and logistics hubs, strengthen the new “duty declaration +” models and patterns in processing and manufacturing, R&D and design, logistics distribution, cross-border e-commerce, financial leasing, etc. and will pioneer to form a complete functional framework of international trade in China’s central and western regions. Meanwhile, Chongqing will innovate the port customs clearance model, speed up the construction of smart ports, reduce the time for customs clearance, and facilitate various commodities to enter Chongqing.

Fourth, improve activity platforms and ensure a practical implementation. Major international conferences, exhibitions, and forums are essential platforms for Chongqing to present its image, increase the reputation and influence. Chongqing is speeding up to develop itself into an international conference and exhibition city. It is striving to intensify the characteristics, levels, and impacts of the Smart China Expo, Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade, China-Singapore (Chongqing) Financial Summit, the Belt and Road Forum for Interconnected Land-Sea Development, and other grand events, thus translating them into practical cooperation and industrial projects.

Strengthen and optimize China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI)

Reporter: The CCI is one of the critical strategic platforms of opening-up in Chongqing. What will Chongqing China-Singapore Project Administration Bureau do to strengthen and optimize this platform?

Han Baochang: Chongqing China-Singapore Project Administration Bureau will give full play to the three-level cooperative mechanism of the CCI and strategic platform advantage, guarantee cooperation platform construction, and project implementation at the same time and thus strengthen and optimize the CCI.

Specifically, it will focus on the following three aspects:

First, ensure the function of the cooperative mechanism and promote project cooperation. We will continue to intensify internal and external communication, seek policy support from the ministries and departments of China and Singapore. We will cooperate with Singapore in promoting projects of China’s western regions and utilize the activities, including national and Chongqing leaders’ visits to Singapore, to ensure the preliminary planning and encourage cooperation on significant projects.

Second, give play to the clustering and promoting roles and promote the implementation of critical projects. Chongqing will push forward the construction of the Demonstration Area for China-Singapore Fintech Cooperation, China-Singapore Aviation Industrial Park, Sino-Singapore (Chongqing) Multimodal Transportation Demonstration Base, etc. It will strengthen the promotion and application of China-Singapore (Chongqing) Dedicated Channel on International Internet Data and drive the construction of Chongqing Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, Sino-Singapore International Cancer Hospital and other projects.

Third, well perform the leading role of reform and innovation and expand cooperation space. Chongqing will capitalize on Singapore’s advantages in finance, technology, management, and channels. It will promote cooperation between China and Singapore in infrastructure, logistics supply chain, international production capacity, and other fields, to serve Chongqing enterprises well in tapping into the ASEAN market.

Promote all-round opening-up according to top world standards

Reporter: As the first inland state-level new area, how does Liangjiang New Area play its leading role in the construction of an exemplary inland city of opening-up?

Wang Zhijie: Liangjiang New Area is established and prospered by opening-up. Through strictly adhering to the goal of creating a bigger, stronger and better Liangjiang New Area, the city’s important strategic open platform, we will continuously improve the core competitiveness, take the lead in Chongqing’s promotion of the Western Development Strategy and strive to become a pacesetter in expanding the opening-up and a leading demonstration area for the city to fully embody the new development concept.

In terms of the corridors of opening-up, Liangjiang New Area will give full play to its unique location advantages to further promote the connection of New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), China Railway Express (Chongqing) and the Yangtze River Golden Waterway, and build Guoyuan Port into an international multimodal transport hub and the integrated multimodal transport hub and logistics trade distribution center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

As for the platforms of opening-up, Liangjiang New Area will promote China (Chongqing), Pilot Free Trade Zone to carry out the reform exploration in a pioneering and differentiated way, strengthen the cooperation and linkage development with international advanced free economic zones such as Incheon, South Korea, increase the cooperation in China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, accelerate the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative business center and commodity exhibition and trading center, and deepen economic and trade exchanges with countries along the “Belt and Road”.

In the aspect of the main parts of opening-up, Liangjiang New Area will speed up the development of the high-end, high-quality, and high-tech industry cluster. Led by big data intelligence, the area will accelerate the construction of the national digital economy innovation and development pilot area, thus building an open economic system with strong market competitiveness and sustainability.

Promote high-quality development through high-level opening-up

Reporter: The new platform has made further developments, and the existing platform has made new achievements. As a park with 12 years of development history, how does Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park (CILHP) make new achievements?

Luo Shuquan: Looking back on the 12-year process of opening-up and development, CILHP has benefited from the opening-up. By sticking to the five critical points of corridors, ports, platforms, principal parts, and environment of opening-up, the Park will make every effort to build Chongqing into an exemplary inland city of opening-up, thus promoting high-quality development with high-level opening-up.

Specifically, the five tasks are as follows:

First, with the purpose of building all-dimensional corridors to other provinces and foreign countries and relying on Chongqing Tuanjie Village Railway Central Station and Xinglongchang Marshalling Yard, CILHP will provide better services for China Railway Express (Chongqing), ILSTC, “YUMANE” (Chongqing-Manzhouli-Russia) trains, China-Asia trains and “YUYONG”  (Chongqing-Ningbo) trains, and speed up the distribution of overseas warehouses and distribution centers in key cities and core ports along the Duisburg and Gwadar Port, thus establishing a systematic channel system combining points, lines and planes.

Second, aiming to improve the logistics hub function, efforts will be made to improve rail transit systems such as Lines 7 and 13, promote the construction of backbone roads such as the one vertical line, the two horizontal lines and bridges and tunnels, and advance the development of an exemplary inland city of opening-up by linking Airport New Town (Yubei District), Guoyuan Port (Jiangbei District) and Gonglu Port (Ba’nan District).

Third, aiming to build an international logistic city, CILHP is carrying out research on the strategic planning and industrial development of the international logistics city in cooperation with Chongqing Planning & Design Institute, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group Co., Ltd. and Debenham Thouard Zadelhoff to improve weak links of education, medical care, and business support, so as to build a livable and business-friendly city.

Fourth, efforts will be made to speed up the establishment of an open economic system by taking three industries of logistics, trade, and finance as the starting point. As for the logistics field, CILHP will not only provide enterprises in the park with considerate services but also vigorously develop international logistics, bonded logistics, warehousing, distribution and delivery of the cold chain, autos and pharmaceuticals, to enhance its ability to organize and operate as an international logistics center.

Fifth, by optimizing the soft and hard environment of opening-up, CILHP will ensure the establishment and operation of the Enterprise Innovation Service Center of Shapingba Free Trade Zone, provide one-stop government services for enterprises, speed up the construction of smart ports, and build a smart port operation platform that integrates operational collaboration, information sharing and dynamic monitoring, thus further reducing the cost of customs clearance for enterprises.

Source: Shangyou News