With the signing of RCEP, the service trade cooperation between China and ASEAN has ushered in greater opening opportunities.
Novel coronavirus pneumonia and Wang Shouwen, deputy director of the international trade negotiations, said that before the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia outbreak, trade in services grew very rapidly among 15 countries in RCEP. After the outbreak of the epidemic, the development of service trade in the region has been greatly impacted. However, in the future, trade in services will still be a very important growth point in the region. In particular, the agreements and opening commitments reached by RCEP in the field of service trade will promote a very significant growth in service trade.
RCEP has reached the highest level of the 15 parties' respective free trade agreements in the service field
RCEP promotes service sectors in various countries to accelerate post epidemic recovery and promote regional economic growth.
According to Wang Shouwen, RCEP has made a relatively large commitment to opening up in service trade, involving more than 100 departments, including finance, telecommunications, transportation, tourism, R & D, etc. Moreover, RCEP members also promised that the opening of RCEP is now carried out in the form of positive list, and the positive list should be converted into negative list within 6 years after the agreement takes effect.
"This means that the opening of service trade will be expected to be more stable, which will undoubtedly promote the development of transportation, tourism, education and other service industries of RCEP members after the epidemic, help to promote personnel exchanges in the region and promote economic growth in the region." Wang Shouwen said.
Meanwhile, RCEP will further deepen the trend of integrated development of trade in goods and trade in services. Wang Shouwen pointed out that the entry into force of RCEP will bring new growth in the service industry and further promote the development of service trade. After the entry into force of the agreement between RCEP Member States, the trade in goods will increase significantly, driving the growth of service trade related to trade in goods. He gave an example: "for example, the demand for services related to the trade chain will further increase in warehousing, transportation, financial settlement, insurance, financing, etc. serving the trade of goods. RCEP's opening up in these aspects will increase the service trade, which will also drive the further growth of the trade in goods. The trade in goods and the trade in services are integrated and mutually promoted. "
RCEP will promote the development of service trade relying on the Internet and adapt to the changes in social life after the epidemic.
"The epidemic has indeed had a negative impact on the development of service trade, but it has also promoted the development of Internet enabled service trade and the demand for cross-border service trade and remote service trade. For example, cross-border e-commerce, Internet finance, online office, online education, online consultation and online trade fair show greater business opportunities. RCEP member states have made high-level opening commitments in the field of cross-border service trade, especially in the above Internet enabled service trade. " Wang Shouwen said.
Wang Xiaosong, Professor of the school of economics of Renmin University of China and researcher of the National Institute of development and strategy, recently pointed out that under the framework of RCEP, all countries have made commitments far beyond their respective "10 + 1" free trade agreements in the field of services, and the overall level of openness has reached the highest level of the 15 party free trade agreements, providing a new growth point for the development of the service industry. He believes that there are a lot of opportunities for member states in the region in the fields of producer services, logistics, cross-border e-commerce and trade-related finance.
RCEP puts forward higher requirements for service trade
Tian Guofeng, Executive Deputy Secretary General of China Association for trade in services, said that RCEP is a free trade agreement between neighboring countries, not China's free trade agreement with 14 countries, but a free trade agreement between 15 countries. After RCEP takes effect, it means that the trade channel for China's products exported to country a and then exported from country a to country B or other countries will be more unblocked. In the commodity circulation reform among the whole RCEP member countries, it will inevitably be accompanied by the process of R & D, clearing, settlement, logistics and other services, which will be manifested as service trade. Therefore, RCEP will certainly bring significant development opportunities to China's service industry and service trade.
"It means that the free trade agreement between RCEP and China has been signed for the first time. Japan is the source country of China's top 3 cross-border trade imports. Under the framework of RCEP, it will promote more diversified trade channels and improve efficiency, which also covers many service industries and service trade. " Tian Guofeng said.
Tian Guofeng pointed out that the application of interregional rules of origin accumulation has greatly promoted the trade of interregional intermediate products.
"In the global trade circulation, we are most concerned about the three chain businesses, namely supply chain, industrial chain and value chain, which all represent service trade. In particular, it has brought great demand for cross-border logistics, especially the logistics development of cross-border ports, and the great development of domestic end logistics from factories to ports, and then from ports to terminal consumption. " Tian Guofeng analysis.
In this process, there are also many challenges. Tian Guofeng pointed out that RCEP has put forward higher standards in investment, trade, intellectual property, competition and government procurement. China needs to reform according to relevant requirements, create a better business environment and stimulate the potential for cooperation with RCEP member states.
Yao Xin, Secretary General of the commercial industry branch of CCPIT, said that opportunities and challenges coexist. In the future, RCEP will carry out transformation and upgrading of Chinese industries and put forward higher requirements for service capacity and service level.
"Today's service needs to be improved to meet the expectations and aspirations of customers. We need higher service means, service capacity and service level to better participate in the whole industrial chain of service trade in the future RCEP era." Yao Xin said.
The time has come to build a digital Trade Center for RCEP
"The time has come to build a RCEP Oriented Digital Trade Center. It is imperative to seize this opportunity and establish a digital trade pilot zone for RCEP Member States, especially focusing on digital economy, intelligent manufacturing, big data, artificial intelligence and smart city." Tian Guofeng stressed.
In recent years, the huge market demand has brought unprecedented development opportunities for China's cross-border e-commerce. Relying on their existing advantages, China's major e-commerce giants have risen rapidly in the field of cross-border e-commerce.
In 2018, the China Malaysia cross border e-commerce sharing platform launched by industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Malaysia) Co., Ltd., SF Express (Malaysia) Co., Ltd., homedeal e-commerce platform, pilot International (Malaysia) Trade Co., Ltd. and Malaysia cross border E-Commerce Association was officially launched. The platform is an omni channel and omni resource sharing platform. With the resources and advantages of the initiator, the channels for customs entry, tax declaration, inspection and Quarantine of cross-border e-commerce between China and Malaysia will be opened.
Malaysia has become China's largest trading partner in ASEAN for eight consecutive years, accounting for 20.6% of the total trade between China and ASEAN. China Malaysia trade plays a leading role in ASEAN countries. Tian Guofeng believes that with the birth of the China Malaysia cross border e-commerce sharing platform, the two countries should further establish the settlement center and logistics center of the China Malaysia international e-commerce trading system, include RCEP Member States, and further build a globally integrated cross-border trading platform.
Meanwhile, RCEP will promote the development of China's service outsourcing business and accelerate the entry of digital and high-end service outsourcing industry. This mainly includes the construction of cloud outsourcing, platform outsourcing, digital manufacturing outsourcing and R & D outsourcing of traditional Chinese medicine services. It is also very important to promote Chinese service outsourcing enterprises to go global, occupy the international market and provide cloud services for Chinese enterprises.
"In this process, we need to strengthen the integrated development of service outsourcing and manufacturing industry and promote the digital transformation of manufacturing industry." Tian Guofeng said.
In addition, China should also expand the deep cultivation of service industry in professional fields. In response, Tian Guofeng one suggested that first, one should establish a "one belt, one road" language service platform, serving the needs of RCEP member countries and promoting the development of language services trade. Secondly, in terms of human resources, we should comprehensively carry out trade cooperation in educational services with RCEP Member States, integrate universities of various countries, build relevant institutions and organizations of University Alliance, and comprehensively promote trade cooperation in educational services. At the same time, the government, industry, enterprises and schools can jointly build a training base for RCEP. Thirdly, we should build a supply chain financial platform and comprehensive service platform for RCEP Member States to provide comprehensive financial services for Member States. Another important aspect is the export of cultural trade. Building a cultural export base for RCEP is also very important for the next step to implement commitments and promote the development of service trade. Finally, promote the development of trade in traditional Chinese medicine services, build an international experimental area of traditional Chinese medicine services for RCEP, and further promote the international standards and rules of traditional Chinese medicine services.
On April 24, the China ASEAN Economic and Trade Center was officially inaugurated and operated in Nanning area of China (Guangxi) pilot free trade zone. As a major landmark project of the Guangxi pilot Free Trade Zone, the China ASEAN Economic and Trade Center will vigorously promote international cooperation between China and ASEAN and even RCEP countries, effectively promote the integrated development of major open strategic platforms such as the new land and sea channel, the pilot Free Trade Zone, the financial opening portal facing ASEAN and the China ASEAN Information Port, and effectively promote the China ASEAN Expo The China ASEAN Business and Investment Summit was upgraded and developed.
The total construction area of China ASEAN Economic and Trade Center is about 22000 square meters. The project will build a "one-stop" service platform for China ASEAN Economic and trade cooperation through the mode of "entity platform + internationalization + commercialization". The main functions are divided into ten sections: business investment, legal services, finance, logistics, digital information, scientific and technological innovation incubation, agricultural and economic cooperation, cultural and tourism cooperation, talent service and transnational organizations. At present, China ASEAN small and medium-sized enterprise service center, China Council for the promotion of international trade (Guangxi) pilot free trade zone comprehensive service center, etc. have settled in, and are accelerating the construction of China ASEAN cross-border financial service center, cross-border Logistics comprehensive promotion center, platform economy and scientific and Technological Innovation Incubation Base, small language cross-border service base, international standardization cooperation and exchange center, etc, It has attracted nearly 30 business associations between China and ASEAN countries, well-known enterprises and international institutions.
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