By Yuling Chen, EDITOR
On March 3, 2019, the Chongqing Delegation held a plenary session. It decided to propose the Second Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) make “New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor under the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI-ILSTC)” a national strategic project.
Three main organizational forms of ILSTC logistics
To develop into an exemplary inland city for opening up, Chongqing should expand the related business. With the construction of four-direction foreign channels, it can finally become a hub and major port for an open economy. In this way, Chongqing will make a contribution to the development and opening-up of China’s western interior.
“To provide high-quality products for customers worldwide, I appreciate your great efforts during the Spring Festival.” This is the encouragement of Chen Yanshun, Secretary of Party Committee and CEO of BOE Technology Group at Chongqing Factory.
The data shows the shipment of BOE’s display screens realized a year-on-year increase of 24％ last year. Surpassing LGD and Samsung, it now ranks first in the world. BOE is a supplier of such brands as Huawei, Vivo and OPPO. Therefore, even during the Spring Festival, the staff will work overtime to meet market demand.
The popularity of “Intelligent Manufacturing in Chongqing” keeps an increasing number of enterprises busy during the Spring Festival. This phenomenon indicates Chongqing is getting deeply involved in the global system of labor division. In the meantime, Chongqing is also accelerating the formation of the open economic system.
The Intelligent Central Plaza at Yuelai Sponge City
In April 2018, SK hynix, a well-known enterprise in South Korea, launched its second-phase project in Chongqing.
During the Smart China Expo last August, Germany-based DHL established its southwest supply chain operations center in Liangjiang New Area. The Government of Nan’an District and Administrative Committee of Chongqing Economic and Technological Development Zone signed a contract with Chongqing Xinmu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and South Korean ASEMI. They planned to co-establish a base for chip research & development and packaging & testing base.
On December 8, 2018, BOE commenced the construction of its sixth-generation flexible AMOLED line in Chongqing.
The past year saw a batch of high-quality projects settle down in Chongqing. These new forces have significantly improved the economic atmosphere of Chongqing in the complicated and changeable external environment.
Lianglu-Cuntan Free Trade Port Area (CFTA), Chongqing
In 2018, Chongqing achieved an annual value of imports and exports of RMB 522.26 billion. The former reached RMB 182.73 billion, an increase of 12.5%; the latter totaled RMB 339.53 billion, a growth of 17.8%. Chongqing has again realized an annual export and import value of over RMB 500 billion since 2014 (RMB 586.21 billion).
Before the Spring Festival, numerous rail-sea intermodal trains returned to Chongqing via the CCI-ILSTC.
On April 10, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping met Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore. They reached an agreement to enhance the cooperation under the “Belt and Road Initiative”. The two countries will make continuous efforts to co-build the CCI-ILSTC into a bridge connecting the “Belt” and the “Road”.
Yuxinou-first trains of imported cars (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
A number of provincial and municipal governments signed the framework agreement on co-building the CCI-ILSTC on January 7, 2019. The members cover Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Ningxia, etc. Meanwhile, countries including Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar also expressed their support for the construction of the CCI-ILSTC.
Cooperation will bring benefits. As of December 31, 2018, three organizational forms of logistics on the CCI-ILSTC have all realized normal operation. Through the rail-sea intermodal passage, 805 trains have departed. The international railway transportation has witnessed 55 runs from Chongqing to Hanoi in Vietnam. Additionally, Chongqing-ASEAN Highway Regular Lorry has achieved 661 departures.
In 2018, China Railway Express (Chongqing) made a significant breakthrough, with a total of 1,442 departures. Therefore, the number of accumulated runs has reached 2,000.
Via the international railway channel, it only takes about 12 days to transport goods between Chongqing and Europe. The years of operation have gradually diversified the goods as well.
In April 2018, a batch of Vietnam-made electronic products reached Chongqing via the CCI-ILSTC. After the transfer at Tuanjie Village Railway Container Center Station, the goods were then sent to Europe by train. It is the first time for Chongqing to achieve the international logistics transfer through the rail-sea intermodal transport.
Last July, two Middle Eastern Pajero cars imported from Dubai completed customs clearance in Chongqing Logistics City.
The two cars got there in a nontraditional way. They are the first batch of parallel-imported vehicles based on the settlement by letter of credit through the CCI-ILSTC. This is also the first time that inland areas saw the parallel-imported vehicles through that way of settlement.
As of this January, China and Singapore have signed 137 cooperation projects under the CCI framework. With a total amount of over USD 21.9 billion, those projects cover finance, logistics, transport, big data, cloud computing, etc.
China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone came into operation in April 2017. Since the unveiling, it has implemented 129 reform tasks (151 total) and introduced 141 innovative initiatives (11 were first of its kind in China). Thanks to these favorable measures, there have been 22,600 newly registered enterprises by the end of 2018. With the introduction of 1,622 projects, the total amount of contracts (agreements) signed has been up to RMB 521.3 billion.
Pilot Free Trade Zone is considered an important “key” for accelerating China’s opening up to the outside world and deepening the reform.
Moreover, the integrated development of the CCI and Chongqing FTZ has given birth to successful cases for replication and promotion.
On September 21, 2018, a new A320NEO aircraft landed at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. This is the first A320NEO aircraft introduced by Chongqing Airlines through the model of the operating lease. It is also a reflection of Chongqing’s achievements in aircraft bonded leasing business.
With the support of the two platforms, Chongqing has become the first implementer of the business among the third-batch FTZs.
Chongqing FTZ and the CCI have brought dividend policies. And centered on the airport, Chongqing has launched 17 aviation-related projects. The construction of Southwest Headquarters of HNA Modern Logistics is in the plan. And the settlement of these projects has increased Chongqing’s clustering capacities of aviation industries.
On December 17, 2018, the passenger throughput of the airport first exceeded 40 million. This result heralded its entry into the ranking of top 50 airports in the world. As of December 31, 2018, the airport has opened 300 routes. 218 of them are for domestic service and the other 82 for international (regional) service. The destinations cover 61 cities in 26 countries in five continents.
The “single window” of Chongqing integrated 54 systems of 22 units engaged in international trade in the whole city. It covers 25.19 million pieces of information in 11 categories for sharing. Based on that, today’s customs clearance needs only 10 seconds.
Statistics show running after a year, the window has handled over 1.8 million declaration forms. The number ranks among the top places in China and first in Midwest China. Nearly 30% of the declaration forms came from coastal cities.
The “single window” is just one of the measures for Chongqing to promote trade facilitation.
In November 2018, General Administration of Customs announced “Customs-Railway Clearance” Project started its trial operation on China Railway Express (Chongqing).
In May 2018, Chongqing released the Measures for Facilitating Cross-Border Trade in Chongqing (trial). The preliminary goal is to reduce the time of goods pick-up and departure by over 1/3. And another goal is to decrease the comprehensive logistics cost at the port by more than 10%.
Furthermore, Chongqing has implemented “24/7 service” for normal customs clearance.
Such a series of measures for trade facilitation have promoted the internationalization of economic and trade exchange. Chongqing, an inland city, therefore, can establish business relations with other regions worldwide in a more convenient way.
Source: Chongqing Daily
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