new economy

　　

On August 1, the China-Asean Business Council and the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee held the "National Industry Association Exchange Meeting to Seize the opportunities of RCEP". At the meeting, Xu Ningning, president of the China-Asean Business Council, analyzed the China-Asean trade situation in the first half of this year, and representatives of various industry associations attending the meeting said that they would seize the opportunity to further expand cooperation with ASEAN.

In the first half of this year, trade between China and ASEAN reached 3.08 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year and 3.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of China's total foreign trade in the same period. The proportion of China-Asean trade in China's total foreign trade has increased. Trade between China and ASEAN plays an important supporting role in China's foreign trade.

Xu Ningning said that in the past three years, China's top three trading partners are ASEAN, the European Union and the United States. In the first half of this year, China's trade with the EU increased by 1.9% year-on-year, while that with the US fell by 8.4% year-on-year. The trade volume between China and ASEAN is larger than that between China, the second largest trading partner, and the EU, and that between China and the United States, the third largest trading partner.

In the first half of this year, Chinese enterprises in the "Belt and Road" countries along the top ten non-financial direct investment in ASEAN countries accounted for seven, the top three are ASEAN countries Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia. "China-asean trade and investment cooperation will promote mutual growth." Xu Ningning said.

On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect, creating the world's largest free trade area. Xu Ningning said that in the first half of the year, China's trade with RCEP countries was also close, and China's contribution rate to the other 14 RCEP members' trade to China's foreign trade growth exceeded 20%. Since the implementation of RCEP one and a half years ago, regional industrial chain cooperation has become closer. In the first half of this year, China exported 1.72 trillion yuan of intermediate products to other RCEP members, accounting for more than half of the value of China's exports to other RCEP members, reaching 54.4%. Among them, the auto parts category and electrical equipment category increased by 17.6% and 22.4% respectively.

Since the beginning of this year, some provinces and cities have followed the trend and set their sights on ASEAN, China's friendly neighbor, and actively entered ASEAN countries to carry out business activities, including leading delegations to visit, meeting and talking, holding meetings, docking business opportunities, and signing a series of cooperation agreements. Xu Ningning believes that this is an important measure to implement the "double cycle" economic development and practice the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and all provinces and cities seize the opportunities of RCEP to highlight the spirit of openness and cooperation.

At present, the ASEAN region is politically stable and is regarded as a dynamic region in the current global economy, and ASEAN is the fifth largest economy in the world. Xu Ningning introduced that ASEAN is striving to promote its own regional economic integration, increase connectivity, implement the development of digital economy and green economy, jointly cope with weak global demand, inflation, international geopolitical conflicts, etc., implement multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements to help ASEAN economic growth, and actively develop economic cooperation with dialogue partners. Asean's top three economic priorities this year are recovery and reconstruction, digital economy development, and sustainable development, with positive economic growth expected for all ASEAN member states in 2023.

Xu Ningning said that the 20th China-Asean Expo and China-Asean Business and Investment Summit will be held grandly in September, suggesting that all parties make full use of this important platform to participate in the exhibition and promote innovation and practical cooperation.

At the meeting, Lu Kejian, former Director General of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, Li Yuzhong, Vice President of China Light Industry Federation, Qin Zhanxue, President of China Building Materials Circulation Association, Yang Xiaojing, Chairman of China Sewing Machinery Association, Huo Xiaoyun, Vice chairman of China Cycling Association, Ma Li, Secretary General of China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Xiao Ling, deputy Secretary general of China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, etc., delivered speeches. It analyzed the current situation of China-Asean economic and trade cooperation and industrial complementarity, and indicated that China and ASEAN should actively promote industrial cooperation, jointly cope with challenges, and accelerate the development of new business opportunities in RCEP.

Liu Xin, Executive Secretary of the China-Asean Business Council and Secretary General of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, said that the current China-Asean relations continue to operate at a high level, showing a comprehensive, in-depth, active and close cooperation. The ASEAN-China Business Council and the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee will continue to leverage their strengths in functions, channels, research and information to facilitate new development of mutually beneficial cooperation among all parties concerned.