Chongqing– The development of vast western China is key to China's economy, and Chongqing is playing a leading role in the opening-up of the region. How to further support the opening-up strategy in 2020, Mayor Tang Liangzhi made that clear in his government work report 2020 at the Chongqing Great Hall of the People in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, January 11, 2020., during the Chongqing Two Sessions.

The 3rd session of the 5th Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress Chongqing began at the Chongqing Great Hall of the People in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, January 11, 2020. (Photo by Wang Yiling)

Chongqing will thoroughly contribute to the construction of the Belt and Road and the growth of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It will intensify the action plan for building an exemplary inland city of opening-up and cover more countries (regions), incorporate more sectors and achieve a higher level for the opening-up.

Chongqing plans to perfect corridors to other provinces and foreign countries. It will make overall plans, with consideration of railway, highway, waterway, and air transportation systems towards four directions, as well as four key factors, i.e. the visitors' flow, logistics, cash flow, and information flow, to provide support for building an international inland logistics hub. Chongqing plans to advance the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. It will organize logistics and operation organization centers for the corridor, set up cooperation and co-building mechanisms along the corridors, strengthen cargo transportation organization and work to lower costs and improve efficiency in corridor logistics. Chongqing plans to expand the functions of China Railway Express (Chongqing). It will expand the freight source market, organize the import of finished vehicles and cold-chain meat, intensify international policing and law enforcement cooperation on transportation safety and establish a sound corridor clustering, distribution, and service network. Chongqing plans to unleash the transport capacity of the Yangtze River as a golden waterway. It will pay more efforts on constructing key ports along the river, strive to launch the regulation of the 4.5-meter-deep Chaotianmen-Fuling channel, open the Chongqing-Shanghai through the train and will improve the quality of Chongqing-Ningbo sea-rail international freight service.

Chongqing plans to increase Chongqing-Manzhouli-Russia trains. It will explore to open more public trains to carry more categories of goods and expand the export of finished vehicles and spare parts. Chongqing plans to build airfreight bases. It will encourage base airlines to develop passenger and cargo transfer services and open new commercial and direct air routes with a target to have over 100 international routes. Chongqing plans to develop multimodal transport. It will establish a modern logistics hub system supported by Guoyuan Port, Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park, Chongqing Airport Aviation Logistics Park, and Chongqing Highway Logistics Base. Chongqing will push the establishment of a “one-bill service” of multimodal transport. It will give the property of the document of title to railway bills and build international logistics distribution centers and international multimodal centers in inland China.

Chongqing plans to build a pioneering open platform. Specifically speaking, it will strengthen the construction of 19 national open platforms and propel the coordinated development of various platforms. With regard to the high-standard implementation of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, Chongqing will give play to the role of operation centers, and well organize the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration on Strategic Connectivity Financial Summit and the International Cooperation Forum on the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Meanwhile, it will accelerate the construction of key projects such as the China-Singapore Fintech Cooperation Demonstration Zone, multimodal transport demonstration base, and aviation industrial park, and encourage the cooperation between Chongqing and Singapore in point-to-point projects. Chongqing will also endeavor to realize the connectivity between western China and ASEAN.

Moreover, it will build high-level pilot free trade zones, and carry out pioneering explorations regarding land-borne trade rules, logistics finance, and multimodal transport. Furthermore, it will accelerate the establishment of an administrative management system suitable for high-level opening-up and an accounting system with Chongqing characteristics, and roll out higher-level opening-up policies by referring to the free trade ports.

With regard to the high-quality development of Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing will advance the construction of Liangjiang Digital Economy Industrial Park and the second phase of Lijia Intelligent Park, accelerate the concentration of high-end and high-quality high-tech industries, and build a model of smart cities and park cities. In addition, Chongqing will motivate the transformation, upgrading and innovative development of high-tech zones, economic development zones and various parks.

As for the efficient expansion of open ports, Chongqing will improve its function as the “single window” of international trade, launch pilot projects for customs cooperation between China and Singapore, expedite the construction of smart ports, optimize the layout of special customs supervision zones, and advance high-quality development of bonded areas.

Chongqing plans to improve the level of an open economy. More precisely, it will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, create a national-level demonstration base for the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, and spur the export of advantageous products such as automobiles, motorcycles and general machines. Besides, it will expand the processing trade industry, optimize the structure of imported goods, develop service trade and cross-border e-commerce, and cultivate headquarters trade, transit trade, and “bonded +” trade. It will explore diversified markets, implement economic and trade cooperation plans with ASEAN, consolidate the EU, Japan, and South Korean markets, stabilize the US market, and expand the emerging markets in the countries along the Belt and Road routes, South America and Africa. In addition to that, it will also improve the use of foreign investment, fully implement the Negative List for the Access of Foreign Investment (2019), launch a number of cooperation projects in the fields of advanced manufacturing, high-tech, financial services, modern logistics, and cultural tourism, and build high-quality foreign capital clusters. Chongqing will also deepen foreign exchanges and cooperation, advance investment promotion, and boost enterprises to “go global”. Efforts will also be made to attract more international organizations to set up branches in Chongqing, and further the expansion of friendship cities and pragmatic cooperation. Chongqing will host such international exhibitions and fairs as the Smart China Expo and Investment & Trade Forum for Cooperation between East & West China in line with high standards, and accelerate the construction of an international exchange center in central and western China.