On February 24, 2021, the State Council Information Office of China held a press conference. At the meeting, the Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao summarized China's foreign trade achievements in 2020 with the words "extremely extraordinary and outstanding." He said that in 2020, China's foreign trade scale and international share reached a record high, becoming the only major economy in the world to achieve positive trade growth. Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce, stated that focusing on economic and trade cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative, the Ministry of Commerce will promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative from four aspects in 2021.

China is the only major economy in the world to achieve positive trade growth in 2020

Statistics show that the import and export of goods in 2020 is 32.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.9%. Wang Wentao said, "This data can show three aspects: First, it is the only major economy in the world that has achieved positive trade growth. Second, the scale and international share of foreign trade have reached a record high. Third, the world's largest trade. The status of a major country has been consolidated."

"How to judge the situation in 2021? Our judgment is still severe and complicated." Wang Wentao said that from the perspective of demand, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there will be some ups and downs, uncertain and uncertain; from the perspective of supply chain and industrial chain, the impact The factors of stability are still developing.

Wang Wentao said that in 2021, the goal will be to stabilize the basic foreign investment and foreign investment, focusing on the implementation of the preferential import and export plan, the trade industry integration plan and the trade smooth plan. Specifically, there are the following aspects:

One is to continue to strengthen policy support. The Ministry of Commerce will maintain the continuity, stability and sustainability of policies with local and relevant departments, and at the same time adjust policies in a timely manner in the face of new situations. Specifically, it includes regularly listening to the problems and voices of foreign trade enterprises, solving the problems of poor international logistics and high logistics costs, consolidating and upgrading export credit insurance, paying attention to the release of foreign trade credit, and supporting foreign trade enterprises to stabilize their posts and expand their posts.

The second is to ensure the stability and smooth flow of the foreign trade industry chain and supply chain. Work hard on the integration and development of trade industries, newly identify a batch of foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, and cultivate a batch of processing trade industrial parks. Build a number of national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, expand the scale of imports, and drive related industries to improve quality and efficiency.

The third is to help foreign trade companies stabilize orders and expand markets. Further play the role of the platform, hold the 4th China International Import Expo and the 2021 Service Trade Fair, make good use of exhibition platforms such as the Canton Fair and the first Consumer Fair, and make simultaneous efforts online and offline to contribute to stable orders and market expansion for enterprises. Strengthen the construction of the international marketing system, especially the upgrading and development of overseas warehouses, and promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade. We will work with more trading partners, especially the countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative, to establish a smooth working mechanism for trade to create a good international environment for foreign trade enterprises.

The fourth is to actively cultivate new business forms and models of foreign trade. After the epidemic, new forms and models of foreign trade have played an important role, such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade methods. In 2020, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports will be 1.69 trillion yuan, an increase of 31.1%. Market procurement exports 704.54 billion yuan in 2020, an increase of 25.2%, both are double-digit high-speed growth, indicating that these new business forms and models have strong vitality. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will further expand its support for these new business forms and models, and contribute to stabilizing foreign trade in 2021.

Four aspects to promote high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative

Qian Keming said that in 2020, in the face of unfavorable factors such as the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China and relevant countries have watched and helped each other to overcome the difficulties, and promoted the joint construction of the Belt and Road to achieve new progress and new results. The annual trade volume of goods with countries along the route was US$1.35 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%. Non-financial direct investment in countries along the route was US$17.79 billion, an increase of 18.3% year-on-year. Among them, major projects such as China-Laos Railway, Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, and China-Belarus Industrial Park have also made positive progress.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made new arrangements for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, which pointed out the direction for our next work. The Ministry of Commerce will resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focus on building a new development pattern, focus on the Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation, and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2021, we will focus on four areas:

First, improve the quality of trade. The Ministry of Commerce will work hard to expand two-way trade with co-constructed countries, especially to increase imports of high-quality products, so that more countries can share the dividends of China's super-large-scale market. It is necessary to develop "Silk Road E-commerce", promote cross-border e-commerce and other new business models and the integrated development of the One Belt One Road, and add new momentum to the construction of major trade channels such as China-Europe Railway Express and new land-sea channels. We must also promote the construction of high-standard free trade zones to create a free and convenient international environment for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Second, innovative investment cooperation. The Ministry of Commerce will promote the construction of a number of high-quality cooperation projects, implement a number of foreign aid projects that benefit the people’s livelihood, and encourage powerful domestic enterprises to take measures such as innovating foreign investment cooperation methods, promoting the upgrading of foreign contracted projects, and expanding third-party market cooperation. Get out. It is necessary to attract more co-construction state enterprises to invest in China, and promote the construction of a mutually beneficial and win-win industrial chain supply chain and value chain.

Third, build a platform carrier. The Ministry of Commerce will do its best to host a series of major exhibitions such as the 4th International Import Expo and the 2021 China International Trade in Services Fair, making use of the Canton Fair, China-ASEAN Expo, China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, China-Arab Expo, China-Russia Expo, China-Central and Eastern Europe The role of a series of exhibition platforms such as the National Expo has created more powerful supporting platforms for deepening the economic and trade cooperation of the Belt and Road.

Fourth, strengthen mechanism building. The Ministry of Commerce will actively promote the docking of strategies, plans, and mechanisms with the co-building of the country. Under the framework of the bilateral economic and trade joint committees and mixed committees, it will build more unimpeded trade working groups and investment cooperation working groups, and improve service trade and electronics Business and other working mechanisms provide institutional guarantees for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. Editor/Xu Shengpeng