On July 5, the Chongqing Statistics Bureau released a report on the construction of Chongqing's inland opening-up, showing that the import and export value in Chongqing in 2021 has reached 800.1 billion yuan (about 119.5 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 22.8% over the previous year. 

Trade with 215 countries and regions

The report indicates that in 2021, Chongqing's import and export scale hit a new high, with imports and exports valued at 800.1 billion yuan, an increase of 22.8% over the previous year, ranking second place among the 12 western provinces. Among them, the export value is 516.8 billion yuan, an increase of 23.4%; the import value is 283.2 billion yuan, an increase of 21.7%. 

Chongqing has traded with 215 countries and regions. These three significant partners, the ASEAN, the European Union, and the United States, increased by 15.2%, 19.5%, and 11.4%, respectively; trade along the Belt and Road increased by 26.0%.

It is worth mentioning that the export value of high-tech products increased by 19.5%, which was 1.6 percentage points higher than the national rate. The export value of laptops ranked first in China for three consecutive years. The export value of internal combustion engine motorcycles and automobiles (including chassis) ranked first and fifth in the country.

In 2021, with 351 new foreign-invested enterprises joining Chongqing, the utilization of foreign capital also had steady growth. The utilization of foreign money was 10.7 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 3.8%. Of this amount, foreign direct investment (FDI) was 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 6.4%.

312 of the Fortune 500 enterprises landed

The opening-up of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle is gaining momentum.

Chongqing and Chengdu have successfully implemented major projects like the Chengdu-Chongqing middle line high-speed railway and jointly launched the first China-Europe freight train (Chengdu-Chongqing), offering an excellent example of their joint collaboration.

Meanwhile, the opening-up of rural areas has speeded up. The export of high-quality agricultural products such as Yunyang Three Gorges Yangju,  a kind of chrysanthemum, Yongchuan Douchi, the fermented black bean sauce, Zhongxian orange, and Tongnan lemon has been expanded, and a 90 million yuan of tax rebate has been achieved.

Chongqing has become the first city in the country to have a port, dry port, and airport national logistics hub simultaneously. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) has reached 315 ports and 107 countries (regions), with a 54% increase in container volume. Jiangbei Airport now has 106 international routes, and the throughput has exceeded 200,000 tons. The China-Europe freight train (Chengdu-Chongqing) runs over 4,800 trips, ranking first in the country.

Furthermore, Chongqing manages to pilot many practices, becoming the first city in the country to implement the railway express customs clearance mode, which cuts the customs clearance time by more than four hours on average. 

Chongqing Guoyuan Port has passed the national acceptance inspection, and the functions of the Cuntan Port have been transferred orderly, leading to Chongqing becoming the first port city to handle the first import registration of chemicals in western China.

Thanks to various influential international events, such as the Smart Expo, Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade, the CCI Financial Summit, and the Chongqing Talent Conference, high-quality resources are accelerating gathering in Chongqing. Three hundred twelve of the Fortune 500 enterprises have already landed in Chongqing, and the number of international sister cities has increased to 52.