China has signed 19 FTAs with 26 countries and regions.

　　Vehicles are transferring containers at the modern terminal of Xiamen Free Trade Zone. In recent years, Xiamen Free Trade Zone has innovated the supervision mode of imported wine platform, implemented "one-stop" wine inspection area and "imported wine quick inspection" service, and promoted the rapid development of imported wine trade. Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Kehong photo

　　Data show that up to now, China has successively signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions. Accelerating the promotion and implementation of free trade agreements has also become a practical action to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment under the new situation. Practice shows that the signing and implementation of high-level free trade agreements can effectively promote economic and trade cooperation with relevant countries and regions and effectively reduce the uncertainty of foreign trade and investment of enterprises.

　　Milk powder from New Zealand, fruits from Southeast Asia, salmon from Iceland, and red wine from Georgia and Chile … … These goods are increasingly appearing in China people’s homes, and the prices are very close to the people. At the same time, China’s toys, electronic products, daily necessities, clothing, shoes and hats and other commodities have also entered some countries’ markets duty-free or low. Consumers have more choices, enterprises have a broader market and more partners. All this has benefited from the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

　　Data show that up to now, China has successively signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions. Accelerating the promotion and implementation of free trade agreements has also become a practical action to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment under the new situation. "At present, the regional trade liberalization represented by the free trade agreement is booming, which is becoming a ballast stone for trade and investment stability and a touchstone for new rules of economic governance." Zhang Shenfeng, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said.

　　Hedge foreign trade pressure

　　Save enterprise cost

　　At present, the world economy is undergoing profound and complex changes, trade protectionism is on the rise, and anti-globalization trends are surging. Major economies have adopted free trade agreements as a new platform for regional cooperation among countries. Practice shows that the signing and implementation of high-level free trade agreements can effectively promote economic and trade cooperation with relevant countries and regions and effectively reduce the uncertainty of foreign trade and investment of enterprises.

　　"Enterprises can reduce or exempt tariffs when they import products that meet the rules of the FTA. When exporting products, we can also reduce the customs clearance cost of foreign importers through relevant rules, maintain good relations with importers and reach more trade cooperation. More importantly, we can also promote international operations through free trade agreements. " Chen Lilin, director of professional operation of Jiangsu Sumeida Group Co., Ltd., told the reporter that the company had deep cooperation with the local Council for the Promotion of International Trade and made full use of preferential certificates of origin under existing trade agreements.

　　For example, the main customers of textile products are located in the EU, but the EU import tariff is as high as 12%, using China — The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and the EU’s GSP trade rules for Myanmar have achieved zero tariffs on export products. Through the FTA, the company invested and set up a factory in Myanmar, and exported noodle accessories from China to Myanmar, where they were processed and then exported to the European Union, thus reducing the export cost and promoting local employment and economic development in Myanmar.

　　A set of data proves the special value of FTA under the current severe economic and trade situation. Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the total import and export value of China’s goods trade in the first half of this year was 14.24 trillion yuan, down 3.2% year-on-year. From January to May, 2020, the import and export of China and its free trade partners increased against the trend, which was about 4.8 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade import and export in the same period, reflecting strong anti-risk ability.

　　"Comprehensive consideration and flexible use of preferential policies of various free trade agreements is one of the important measures for enterprises to carry out international operations and improve their international level. Legal and compliant use of relevant rules of origin can avoid certain trade risks, save enterprise costs and enhance competitiveness in the international market. " Yan Yun, director of the Commercial Certification Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said.

　　Promote the introduction of advantages

　　Enjoy preferential policies

　　In the interview, the reporter noticed that for a long time, Chinese enterprises have not paid enough attention to the use of FTA, especially small and medium-sized enterprises pay more attention to production links and ignore the understanding and tracking of national policies. In addition, the evaluation systems and standards adopted by different FTAs are different. Based on factors such as production and processing location, raw material source, product composition ratio, etc., the rules of origin of FTAs are complicated, and sometimes obtaining certificates of origin will increase additional costs.

　　"FTA work is professional, and for most foreign trade enterprises, what is lacking is professionals." Liu Wen, a professor at Shandong University (Weihai) Business School, said that this made many foreign trade enterprises in China still have a superficial understanding or even a lack of understanding of FTA. In addition, from the actual situation, the signing of some free trade agreements has achieved some policy objectives, but the applicability of many implementation rules and standards needs to be enhanced.

　　The key to improve the utilization rate of FTA lies in that foreign trade enterprises can be familiar with and make good use of it. In this regard, in 2019, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade established 50 local service centers for free trade agreements across the country, and carried out more than 130 activities such as free trade agreement promotion, training and forums, benefiting more than 15,000 enterprises.

　　"When we entered the enterprise research, we introduced them to the advantages of FTA. When the enterprise came to apply for the certificate of origin, we also took the initiative to remind them to inquire about the relevant information carefully." The staff of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Free Trade Agreement (Hangzhou) Service Center told reporters that in the past year, in order to strengthen the service of the service center to enterprises, on the one hand, they organized and set up special classes to answer questions for enterprises, on the other hand, they actively promoted the digital reform of FTA preferential certificate of origin "online".

　　"Since the FTA of China, South Korea, China, Australia, China and ASEAN came into effect, our product tariffs have been reduced to zero, reducing transaction costs and enhancing the competitiveness of our products in the international market." Wang Cuiping, the head of Beijing Yingtaijia and International Trading Co., Ltd., said that with the promotion of paperless office, the preferential certificate of origin of FTA has also realized that enterprises can print at home, which further saves time and labor costs.

　　It is understood that in order for more enterprises to obtain the information and services related to the FTA in time and enable more enterprises to enjoy the preferential policies of the FTA, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade started the construction of a new batch of local service centers of the FTA this year, and the CCPIT in Qinghai, Dalian, Huizhou and Zhuhai won the award.

　　Keep up with the development of the situation

　　Create a three-dimensional service

　　The promotion of FTA is an important policy measure to stabilize foreign trade, which can optimize the business environment of foreign trade enterprises, improve the level of trade facilitation, save enterprise costs and stimulate the vitality of market players. According to the statistics of the Commercial Certification Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, from January to September, the number of preferential origin visas issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade based on the FTA was 643,000, amounting to US$ 23.9 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. Enterprises can get different levels of tariff reduction and exemption by handling the preferential certificate of origin of FTA. If calculated according to the conservative 5% tariff preference, enterprises can get nearly $1.2 billion in tariff reduction and exemption.

　　Zhang Shenfeng said that the promotion and implementation of the FTA is an important part of the implementation of the FTA strategy by the national trade promotion system and a practical action to stabilize foreign trade under the new situation. "This work has specific and clear data indicators, and the results are tangible, quantifiable and traceable, which is one of the most pragmatic and effective trade promotion work."

　　"To improve the utilization rate of FTA, we can learn from the methods of Japan and South Korea to achieve ‘ Precision promotion ’ On the one hand, the government and foreign trade enterprises should actively cooperate, exchange industry trends in time, and provide FTA training and business guidance according to the characteristics of FTA in different countries, industries and sub-regions; On the other hand, the government and public institutions should also publicize the FTA to enterprises; At the same time, it is necessary to cultivate interdisciplinary talents with both foreign languages and professional skills. " Liu Wen suggested.

　　In order to keep up with the changes in the international trade situation and further improve the promotion and service of FTA, the government and public institutions will also hold online training according to the latest changes in the situation, timely transmit information trends, and carry out authoritative interpretation of relevant rules and policies.

　　On July 15th, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade jointly issued the Notice on Further Improving the Implementation of Bilateral and Regional Free Trade Agreements. In order to strengthen the cooperation among the three departments, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of local, industrial and enterprises to make joint efforts to promote and implement the Free Trade Agreement, arrangements were made.

　　"In the context of the complicated international trade situation, FTA work is becoming more and more important and its role is more prominent. In the future, we should speed up the implementation of the notification requirements, strengthen cross-departmental and cross-unit cooperation in the promotion and implementation of FTA, strengthen external coordination, and further enlarge the function of the CCPIT, so as to do a solid job ‘ Six stabilities ’ Work and full implementation ‘ Six guarantees ’ The task makes due contributions. " Zhang Shenfeng said.