The Standing Committee Of The State Council Plans To Accelerate The Integrated Development Of Domestic And Foreign Trade
On December 1, the State Council executive meeting studied and clarified several measures to accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to benchmark the international advanced level and promote the "three direct links" of domestic and foreign trade products; effectively break through the key blocking points that hinder the integration of domestic and foreign trade, implement fiscal and financial support policies, and jointly promote the high-quality development of domestic and foreign trade.
Experts said that accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an intrinsic requirement for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development. In the future, we should strengthen the construction of the domestic and foreign trade integrated market system, eliminate explicit and implicit barriers for enterprises to explore domestic and international markets, further expand opening up, introduce and promote multinational companies to participate in the construction of domestic and foreign trade integration.
How to develop the "two skins" of domestic and foreign trade in an integrated manner?
On December 1, the State Council held an executive meeting to study and clarify several measures to accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The meeting mentioned that accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an intrinsic requirement for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development.
"From international experience, the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is a common practice in mature market economy countries. It is an inevitable requirement for my country to adapt to international advanced economic and trade rules and create a world-class business environment." Lan Qing, professor of the Institute of International Economics, University of International Business and Economics New representation.
In the past two years, domestic and foreign trade integration has been mentioned at many high-level meetings.
In December 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Development of Domestic and Foreign Trade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"); in May 2022, 14 departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Launching the Pilot Program for Integrated Domestic and Foreign Trade" , and announced on December 8 that 9 places including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong (including Shenzhen) have become pilot areas.
In fact, the integration of domestic and foreign trade is not a new concept.
In the 1980s and 1990s, academic circles proposed the integration of domestic and foreign trade, mainly in response to the common phenomenon at that time that foreign trade companies did not have the right to operate domestic trade and domestic trade companies were unable to operate foreign trade. The focus was on the internal and external trade management system of enterprises. of integration. With the deepening of reform, this problem has been solved.
Over the past 30 years, both the international market and foreign markets have undergone earth-shaking changes. In the context of the new era, how to put "new wine" in "old bottles" of domestic and foreign trade integration?
On December 2, Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, delivered a keynote speech at the 2023 Understanding China International Conference (Guangzhou). He said that after these years of adjustments, our country has formed a pattern of "mainly internal circulation, domestic and international dual circulation", marking That is, import and export trade has accounted for 1/3 of GDP for six or seven consecutive years.
But on the other hand, Huang Qifan said that "two skins" in domestic and foreign trade are still a basic phenomenon in our country. Against this background, promoting the integration of domestic and foreign trade is an important entry point for realizing mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles and building a new development pattern.
In fact, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale of China's domestic and foreign trade markets has continued to grow, and it has become the world's second largest consumer market and the largest country in goods trade. In the first ten months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 38.544 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; during the same period, the total import and export value was 34.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.03%.
Lan Qingxin said that for a long time, the business directions of China's domestic and foreign trade enterprises have been relatively segmented, and there has been a problem of "emphasis on foreign trade and neglect of domestic trade". Currently, the international economic recovery is unstable, trade protectionism is on the rise, and market uncertainty is increasing. With the continuous enhancement of domestic economic strength and the continuous improvement of people's income and consumption levels, enterprises should pay more attention to domestic market demand, tap consumption potential, and make good use of both international and domestic resources.
"Same line, same standard, same quality" forces China's manufacturing to be in line with the world
Since this year, various places have taken frequent actions to promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade--
On April 3, the "Shenzhen City Implementation Plan for Promoting the Integrated Development of Domestic and Foreign Trade" was released, proposing that by 2025, the total retail sales of consumer goods will reach 1.25 trillion yuan, the total import and export of goods trade will reach 4.0 trillion yuan, and the proportion of new foreign trade formats will reach 20%. , identify a total of 300 trading headquarters enterprises and other development goals.
Earlier in December 2022, the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of a Modern Circulation System in Guangdong Province's "14th Five-Year Plan"", which mentioned that it would carry out domestic and foreign trade integration promotion actions and support Shenzhen, Dongguan, etc. in carrying out domestic and foreign trade integration pilot projects. .
It is worth noting that major platforms also play an important role in the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The 133rd Canton Fair is fully open to domestic buyers. Chu Shijia, director of the China Foreign Trade Center, said that the comprehensive introduction of domestic buyers will better play the role of the Canton Fair as a platform connecting domestic and foreign countries and promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade.
The China-Canada Expo is committed to building a market trading platform for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. Since 2016, the China-Canada Expo has focused on introducing buyers from overseas, especially those from countries and regions co-building the "One Belt, One Road". So far, the Expo has facilitated a total of 74,000 business cooperation projects with an intended transaction volume exceeding 790 billion yuan. A large number of processing trade companies have obtained domestic and overseas orders through participation in the exhibition.
However, for enterprises, the "double standards" of domestic and foreign trade are one of the difficulties faced in developing markets. The Standing Committee of the State Council pointed out that it is necessary to benchmark against advanced international standards, accelerate the adjustment and improvement of relevant domestic rules, regulations, management, standards, etc., promote the connection of domestic and foreign trade standards, inspection and certification, and supervision, and promote the same line, same standard and homogeneous quality of domestic and foreign trade products.
Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of the International Joint Business School of Zhejiang University, said that the core of the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is "interconnection". Different trade rules and inconsistent standards have resulted in many products that can only be sold abroad. Sales, and some products can only be sold in the domestic market.
"It is precisely because of the inconsistent rules that foreign companies will not adapt when they come to China; and it is also difficult for Chinese companies to adapt to the rules of overseas markets, making it difficult to achieve transnational operations and become a multinational giant." Pan Helin said.
"To achieve high-quality development of China's economy, Chinese manufacturing must be in line with global standards." Pan Helin said that the "three sames" will force Chinese companies to transform and upgrade, improve product quality, and then provide domestic consumers with higher-quality products. commodity. "In the future, the quality difference between imported goods and domestically produced goods will be eliminated."
The construction of domestic and foreign trade integration should actively introduce and promote the participation of multinational companies
The meeting also called for timely optimization of policies focusing on enterprise needs and market feedback, effectively breaking through key blocking points that hinder the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and helping enterprises to smoothly switch between domestic and international markets. So, what are the key blocking points that hinder the integration of domestic and foreign trade?
In fact, the "Opinions" issued by the General Office of the State Council in 2021 mentioned that the integration of domestic and foreign trade "has problems such as an insufficient regulatory system, insufficient ability to coordinate the use of two markets and two resources, and insufficient smooth development of domestic and foreign trade integration. It cannot fully adapt to the needs of building a new development pattern."
Lan Qingxin said that in the process of integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, problems such as poor connection between rules and institutional systems, lack of market channels, insufficient talents, intellectual property disputes, and high transformation costs still exist, which have restricted the integration of domestic and foreign trade to a certain extent. of depth.
"This requires institutional innovation to improve the domestic and foreign trade business environment and promote the effective transformation of domestic and foreign trade enterprises." Lan Qingxin said.
The meeting also proposed the need to optimize the integrated development environment for domestic and foreign trade, implement relevant fiscal and financial support policies, and jointly promote the high-quality development of domestic and foreign trade. Lan Qingxin suggested that we should strengthen the construction of an integrated domestic and foreign trade market system and eliminate explicit and implicit barriers for foreign trade enterprises to explore the domestic market and for domestic trade enterprises to explore the international market.
He also mentioned that it is necessary to connect with the experiences and practices of developed market economy countries, enhance the international applicability of laws, regulations and policies, and explore the internationalization of the domestic and foreign trade integration system. In addition, market opening should be further expanded, especially institutional opening in the service field, and multinational companies should be introduced and promoted to participate in the integration of domestic and foreign trade.
As the largest province in foreign trade and consumption, Guangdong not only has a solid foundation to promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade, but will also bring huge opportunities.
Pan Helin said that Guangdong's manufacturing industry still has certain export-oriented characteristics. The integrated development of domestic and foreign trade will bring opportunities to Guangdong's manufacturing industry. Enterprises no longer need to design products specifically for export and domestic use, and can be more flexible at home and abroad. Seek sales in the international market and become more actively involved in global market competition.