Chongqing- The fourth meeting of the Fifth Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress opened in the Chongqing People’s Palace, where the mayor of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, Tang Liangzhi, delivered a government work report on January 1st, 2021.

The report detailed that Chongqing will accelerate the cultivation of new advantages in inland opening up this year, fully integrate into joint construction of the Belt and Road and Yangtze River Economic Belt, continuously improve participation ability in global resource allocation, and better integrate into the domestic and international dual cycles.

According to the report, in the year 2020, Chongqing enhanced opening up in all respects. The New Western Land-Sea Corridor, Operations Organization Center, and operating company began logistical operations, while the number of China-Europe Express routes increased to 31.

The China-Singapore Strategic Interconnectivity project has signed a total of 260 projects with a total value of 33.8 billion US dollars, all 151 reform tasks in the Pilot Free Trade Zone have been implemented, and the domestic and foreign currency integrated bank settlement accounts system and Cross- Border Capital Pool have been launched on a pilot basis. Meanwhile, foreign investment market entities in the city have surpassed 6,700.

In 2021, Chongqing will raise the bar of open channels. In the south, the road network for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor will be optimized. A cross-regional public operations platform will be built, while domestic and foreign hubs will be set up in addition to collection and distribution nodes.

In the west, the China-Europe Express will be built in collaboration with Sichuan. The return route and capacity will be optimized. The extension of routes to Northern European markets will be promoted, while the Assembly Center Demonstration Project will be implemented.

In the east, the combined transportation of main branches in the Yangtze River Golden Waterway is to be promoted, while the Shanghai-Chongqing Express and Chongqing-Ningbo Express lines are to be opened steadily to improve operational efficiency further.

In the north, the frequency of Chongqing-Manchurian-Russia trains is to be increased, while the cargo structure will be continually optimized, as the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor is effectively linked.

In the skies, international passenger and cargo routes are to be restored in an orderly manner. More commercial and direct routes will be opened, and base aviation will be developed, and the aviation transit business will be expanded.

Online, the China-Singapore International Data Channel will be put to good advantage, while the orderly flow of data across borders will be explored. The one-order multimodal transport system and the materialization of railway waybills are to be promoted, while the high-quality river and dry port national logistics hubs are to be built.

The leading functions of open platforms are to be enhanced, high-quality development in China-Singapore Strategic Interconnectivity projects are to be promoted, reform and innovation of the Pilot Free Trade Zone are to be deepened, construction of an inland open portal in the Liangjiang New District is to be supported, and open development of high-tech zones is to be coordinated, along with economic development zones and various parks.

The level of an open economy is to be improved. In terms of foreign trade, the construction of processing trade demonstration zones and cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones will be promoted, while there will be a strive to establish a national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone.

In terms of foreign investment, a new version of the previous admission national treatment and negative list management system will be implemented, while a whole-process service system for foreign investment is to be upgraded. A complaints system will be introduced for foreign-invested enterprises to protect their legitimate rights and interests, while an inland high-quality foreign investment cluster will be created.

In terms of foreign economy, the focus is on the countries along the Belt and Road to seize opportunities arising from the RCEP and the completion of investment agreement negotiations between China and Europe. There will be active participation in reshaping global industrial chains and planning for the implementation of economic and trade cooperation, such as between Chongqing and ASEAN. There will also be innovation in foreign investment and cooperation methods and deployment of overseas production and marketing service networks.