Chongqing- The January 1, 2023 marks the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which has boosted regional and global economy by stimulating trade between Asian-Pacific countries.
As the world's largest trade deal so far, the RCEP bears fruit for trade and industrial integration, spanning over 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
To welcome the convening of the Chongqing Two Sessions, Bridging News and iChongqing invited four guests to join the livestram on January 10, telling the world about China's opportunities under the RCEP framework.
In the past year, Chongqing has made efforts from channels, trade, and industry to seize RCEP opportunities for greater opening-up. The program reviewed how Chongqing benefited from RCEP over the past year and how a further cooperation will be proceeded in future.
International logistics trade channel for RCEP member countries
As one of the important foreign trade channels of Guoyuan Port, the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) covers all the RCEP member countries, building a convenient southbound channel for Chongqing and the country, said Wang Sijia, project manager of Guoyuan Port National Logistics Hub.
Wang mentioned that RCEP has improved the connectivity of international trade channels. Chongqing should play its role as the logistics and operation organization center of ILSTC to build an international logistics and trade channel for RCEP countries.
Up to now, the goods shipped by ILSTC have increased from 170 categories in 2017 to 640 categories in 2022. Since the RCEP came into effect, the ILSTC have opened 78 new lines, hitting a new peak in the past five years.
Bridging News and iChongqing invited four guests to join the livestream of RCEP on January 10. (iChongqing/ Chen Zhan)
RCEP brings opportunities to Yuxinou multimodal transport services
As an important corridor to connect Europe, the Yuxinou International Railway Corridor continues to strengthen the economic and trade cooperation with all countries under the RCEP agreement, especially the Indo-China Peninsula.
Justin Zhang, deputy director of Marketing & sales center of YUXINOU (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd., believes, under the favorable conditions of the Belt and Road Initiative and the RCEP agreement, the economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Asia and Europe will be closer, and the connectivity between China and the world will be further enhanced.
For another, the key demonstration project of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, YPL Supply Chain (Chongqing) Multimodal Company Limited, has derived multimodal transport services based on the cooperation with RCEP countries.
Thanks to the RCEP agreement, trade between Southeast Asian countries and RCEP countries has become more convenient with a series of favourable rules such as uniform tariff commitment, trade and investment facilitation, said Dennis ONG, general manager of YPL.
Four guests joined the livestream to share new opportunities brought the RCEP agreement. (iChongqing/ Chen Zhan)
Enhance Chongqing's foreign trade in international competition
Since the RCEP implementation for one year, it has played a positive role in expanding the export of Chinese products, accelerating China's industrial transformation, stabilizing foreign trade and boosting economy.
"As a global digital trade industry service platform, our biggest feeling about the RCEP is that the number of suppliers doing business with RCEP countries has increased rapidly," said Kevin Feng, founder and chairman of OSell Group.
Feng said that with the help of RCEP, Chongqing should strive to become an important node to connect overseas trade, so that trade, data, services, and foreign exchange settlement can be implemented in Chongqing.
He also encouraged Chongqing enterprises to establish effective links with overseas channels and resources, further enhance Chongqing's foreign trade in international competition.
(Tan Jingyue, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)