Chongqing- "I think Chongqing has great potential to become the biggest consumption center in China," said Martin Hinkens, Co-Founder of Gebrüder Wurst German Restaurants, originally from Germany. He has opened restaurants in different parts of Chongqing and Chengdu in southwestern China.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced in July 2021 that, with the approval of the State Council, China's cabinet, Chongqing, and the other four cities would take the lead in developing international consumption center cities.

In recent years, Chongqing has centered on building a famous city in five aspects, including international shopping, food, conventions & exhibitions, tourism, and culture, as well as coordinating the implementation of the ten major projects such as pooling international consumption resources and upgrading the quality of international shopping areas. 

"Chongqing is putting more and more consumption centers for people," said Hinkens. "It has a very huge potential to become a market for foreign companies."

As the city has ramped up the construction of onshore and offshore corridors, its access convenience has been improved significantly. In 2021 alone, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport opened five new international cargo routes.

As of March this year, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor connected 311 ports in 106 countries (regions); China Railway Express to Europe (Yuxinou) had operated more than 9,000 trains in total, ranking first in China.

Open to building a business

"I realized that this city is open to building a business here," said Goncharova Ekaterina, an international student from Russia studying at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

Ekaterina continued, "You can take your projects and products from your country to Chongqing and make Chongqing people aware of your culture."

Internationalization is one of the keywords for optimizing the business environment. To open up to the outside world, Chongqing has never stopped in its efforts. 

With the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Chongqing will explore emerging areas such as land-based and digital trade rules to give full play to the mutual promotion of opening-up and reform. 

(Wang Lu, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)