SCIO briefing on China's import and export performance in H1 2023
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 26, 2023
Nanfang Daily:
The GACC launched 16 initiatives to optimize the country's business environment on June 12, which have been implemented for one month. Could you brief us on the effect of these initiatives? What measures will the GACC take to stabilize the scale and improve the structure of foreign trade amid weakening external demands? Thank you.
Lyu Daliang:
Thank you for your questions. Since the beginning of this year, the GACC has implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for stabilizing the scale and improving the structure of foreign trade, and continued to ensure the implementation of those measures to stabilize foreign trade launched last year. Last month, we launched the 16 initiatives to optimize the country's business environment. All these efforts are aimed at further stabilizing social expectations and boosting foreign trade.
Stabilizing business entities of foreign trade is the foundation for steady increases in both the volume and quality of imports and exports. Measures aimed at providing more convenience, enhancing vitality, improving services, and reducing costs have been included in the 16 initiatives to address those issues foreign trade enterprises are most concerned about, to help them reduce costs, stabilize orders, and expand market shares. We held a press conference on the 13th of last month to interpret the 16 initiatives in detail so that enterprises could understand and know them as early as possible.
In the past month, we have fully implemented policies and measures to ensure they benefit enterprises at a faster pace. Customs offices nationwide have introduced detailed support measures, tailored to local conditions, ensuring that 16 initiatives are effectively implemented at the grassroots level. For example, based on current information, Qingdao Customs introduced 30 specific support measures and initiated six targeted campaigns to enhance industrial upgrading, improve business environment evaluations, and assist in mitigating enterprises' difficulties while stabilizing market operations. Guangzhou Customs rolled out 20 detailed measures in five areas: enhancing the smooth operation of cross-border logistics, expanding goods imports and exports, facilitating cross-border trade, reducing companies' burdens while improving efficiency, and promoting innovative development of foreign trade. Nanjing Customs rolled out and implemented 26 detailed measures and introduced a package of supporting policy measures, such as "resolving enterprise problems," "automatic delivery of preferential policies," "support measures for technology trade," "customized benefits of free trade agreements," "one-on-one Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) guidance," and "IP protection by customs." Furthermore, customs officials at all levels were invited to the front lines to promote policies, listen to enterprise feedback, and help address their issues, thereby more effectively gathering feedback and implementing policies and measures.
A series of policy measures continue to take effect, benefiting more businesses. For example, electronic payment services for cross-border e-commerce taxes have been piloted by Huangpu Customs, Chengdu Customs, and Chongqing Customs, among others, to simplify tax payments for businesses involved in cross-border e-commerce transactions. The method for inspecting high-tech goods in vacuum packaging has been adopted nationwide. According to businesses in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, customs officials conduct door-to-door inspections of imported high-tech equipment in vacuum packaging, and goods can be delivered to the factory and inspected within six hours of port arrival. Nanchang Customs actively piloted the "departure confirmation" facilitation measure. Each shipment can save at least one to two days of transit time, saving an average of about 100 yuan in logistics costs per container, according to relevant companies. Shantou Customs took the initiative in collaborating with a petrochemical company's key projects and implemented measures of import equipment such as "declaration in advance" and "inspection upon arrival." The time between inspection and release of goods by customs was shortened from days to hours.
In general, relevant policies continue to take effect, and enterprises are gaining more tangible benefits. Moving forward, we will fully leverage the advantage of customs to address enterprise concerns and continue to implement the 16 initiatives and other policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade. We will work to enhance our support measures and monitor the implementation of such measures. Furthermore, in line with the development of China's foreign trade and the practical needs of enterprises, we will further expand our policy toolkit and strive for a stable volume and improved structure of foreign trade. Thank you.
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