We will embrace the development of new forms of business in the RCEP

Fifteen asean countries, including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, have formally signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). After eight long years, the world's largest free trade mechanism has finally come to fruition.

Peng Bo, an associate researcher with the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, said, "The signing of RCEP is a landmark event for China, second only to the WTO, in the field of foreign trade and economic cooperation." What does the signing of this agreement mean for Jiangsu province in China in the context of speeding up the construction of a new development pattern that is dominated by domestic and international major cycles and mutually promoted by both domestic and international cycles? What is the power point of Jiangsu enterprises in docking RCEP?

"Super Free Trade Zone", the circle of friends closer

Statistics show that THE RCEP member countries account for 29.7% of the global population, 28.9% of the global economy, 29.1% of trade, 32.5% of investment and nearly 70% of manufacturing. It is a free trade area with the largest population, the largest economic and trade scale and the greatest development potential in the world.

The RCEP is a large, modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial regional free trade agreement. The core content covers 20 chapters, covering not only market access such as trade in goods, trade in services, investment and rules of origin, but also intellectual property rights, e-commerce, competition policy and government procurement.

Experts said the agreement brought many breakthroughs: China and Japan reached a free trade agreement for the first time; More than 90% of the trade in goods within the region will eventually achieve zero tariff, mainly by reducing taxes to zero immediately and zero within 10 years. Trade in services and investment are significantly more open than the original 10+1 free Trade Agreement. All 15 countries adopted the negative list approach to make relatively high level opening commitments to investment in five non-service sectors, namely manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mining. According to estimates by internationally renowned think tanks, by 2025, THE RCEP is expected to boost exports, outbound investment stock and GDP of member states by 10.4%, 2.6% and 1.8% more than the baseline, respectively.

Up to now, China has signed 19 free trade Agreements (FTA) with 26 countries and regions. "The FTA is more about bilateral relations, while the RCEP is about the integration of economic and trade rules within the region." 'It's kind of a super FREE trade zone,' says Han Jian, a professor at nanjing University's Business School. 'It's an important out-of-region cycle for us.' At present, THE RCEP has integrated several "10+1" free trade agreements between ASEAN and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as well as existing free trade partnerships between China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and established new free trade partnerships between China and Japan and The Republic of Korea.

Among RCEP member countries, free trade agreements have been signed and implemented between China and ASEAN, China and the Republic of Korea, China and Australia, and China and New Zealand. According to the statistics of Nanjing Customs, from January to October 2020, the import value of jiangsu province under the four agreements was 13.317 billion US dollars, and the tariff preference was 5.306 billion RMB, an increase of 24.99 percent and 24.6 percent year-on-year respectively. From January to October, Nanjing Customs issued a total of 309,400 certificates of origin of the four agreements mentioned above, involving goods worth US $15.048 billion.

"Rules of origin use the principle of regional accumulation, which means that the value component from either side of the RCEP will be taken into account, in this case on a larger regional scale than other agreements that have been signed." Zhu Jue of Nanjing Customs Customs office said that the agreement will also enrich the types of origin certification mode. In addition to the traditional certificate of origin, it will also allow the approved exporter declaration and the exporter's independent declaration, further reducing the operating cost of enterprises and increasing the time limit for customs clearance of goods.

Trade facilitation and the development of new forms of business will be further enriched

As a big province with an open economy, Jiangsu enjoys close cooperation with ASEAN countries. According to the statistics of Nanjing Customs, from January to October, Jiangsu's export to ASEAN increased by 8.1%, 9.2 percentage points better than that of the whole province, accounting for an increase of 1.2 percentage points. Imports from ASEAN increased by 4.8%. In the same period, the import and export to Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were RMB 330.64 billion, RMB 394.59 billion, RMB 110.44 billion and RMB 9.35 billion respectively.

"We imported food fresh from the RCEP members, accounted for 20% to 30%, including rice, frozen shrimp, beef and mutton, and other products, after the signing of agreements will further reduce tariff barriers, is helpful for enterprises to import more high quality products, to meet the people yearning for a better life, rich food raw materials will also promote the development of food industry." Wu Fuqiang, general manager of Huihong Group operations Department, said that the balance of imports and exports and the reduction of trade surplus is one of the measures taken by enterprises to effectively deal with exchange rate fluctuations.

The signing of the RCEP will greatly facilitate trade and investment among member states, and it will be conducive to new forms of trade in particular. Zhu Meiqin, of the Institute of International Economics and Trade in Jiangsu province, said the super-large unified market has created strong demand for logistics systems, payment systems, warehousing systems, foreign trade service platforms and financial data service platforms, which will bring great opportunities for the development of jiangsu's service trade and new forms of trade.

"Following trends in global trade, the agreement incorporates many emerging forms of trade, including a chapter devoted to e-commerce. In terms of cross-border e-commerce, China is developing rapidly. After the SIGNING of the RCEP agreement, the development model and experience of cross-border e-commerce in Nanjing and other places are expected to be copied to more member countries in the AGREEMENT region. In late October this year, after the DTI (Global Digital Trade Infrastructure) global headquarters was located in Jiangbei New Area, Nanjing, we have been connected with Malaysia and Thailand, including the realization of 'customs communication' and the layout of logistics nodes." "Said Liu Yujian, secretary-general of the Nanjing Cross-border E-commerce Industry Association.

Changshu Garment City is the national market purchase trade pilot, since this year the market purchase trade development momentum is strong. In the first ten months of this year, exports totaled $735 million, up 17.5 percent year on year. "Once the RCEP agreement is signed, it will be transformed from 'one for one' to 'one for many'. Each country in the region will gradually converge in customs clearance procedures, trade facilitation, inspection and quarantine standards and other aspects, which will improve customs clearance efficiency and reduce enterprise costs," he said. Changshu city &qingdao (mo) city street party working committee ming-chieh wu said, recently are proposing and South Korea east gate of the famous clothing wholesale market, the market, combined with the eastern gate of the "buyer", through the improve enterprise design, research and development ability, to realize personalized and rapid response of clothing production, better to develop overseas markets.

The new "factory of the world" brings the industrial and supply chains closer together

RCEP member countries are important sources of foreign investment in Jiangsu Province. According to the statistics of the Provincial Department of Commerce, from January to October, there were 184 ASEAN investment projects in Jiangsu province, with a year-on-year growth of 8.2%. The actual utilized foreign capital was usd 890 million, accounting for 3.8% of the province's actual utilized foreign capital. There were 65 Japanese investment projects in Jiangsu province, and the actual utilized foreign capital was usd 980 million, up 16.8% year-on-year, accounting for 4.2% of the actual utilized foreign capital in jiangsu province. South Korea invested 157 projects in Jiangsu province, and the actual utilized foreign capital was us $1 billion, down 6.4% year on year, accounting for 4.2% of the province's actual utilized foreign capital.

South Korea, Japan and other East Asian countries are geographically close to Jiangsu province, with strong economic complementarities and close links in industrial and supply chains. They are important economic and trade partners. As the only free trade agreement currently covering China, Japan and the ROK, RCEP plays an important role in deepening the cooperation between Jiangsu province and the ROK and promoting the small Circle in East Asia.

After the signing of a number of experts believe that RCEP, China and asean will speed up the formation of expanded version of the "world factory", is "China and the association of south-east Asian nations (asean)" the factory of the world, the concentrating effect of the industrial chain of the supply chain will further enlarge, China to build new development pattern will have a better platform and bigger space, can be more efficient resources, effective support economic growth.

"Two-way investment will increase significantly, and it will also bring an increase in trade in intermediate goods and other goods." In Han Jian's opinion, RCEP will promote enterprises to develop industrial chain and supply chain layout in a larger regional scope. The rules of origin apply the principle of regional accumulation, which, in theory, can be accumulated as long as production and markets are in RCEP members' countries. Enterprises can place production and assembly links in labor-intensive areas, and place the higher value-added parts in areas with strong scientific research capacity. Meanwhile, they can import intermediate products from Japan and South Korea, and enjoy the highest preferential rate of zero tariff, so as to achieve the most efficient production and division of labor. "Soviet enterprises should constantly strengthen scientific and technological research and development, improve the technological content of products, and move higher up the value chain."

"RCEP makes capital flows within the region more free and convenient, and is more conducive to reshaping the global industrial and supply chains, which also poses new challenges to jiangsu's business and industrial environment. Jiangsu's manufacturing industry is at a critical stage of transformation, upgrading, innovation and development. While stabilizing the global industrial chain and supply chain, it should speed up the construction of an independent and controllable high-end manufacturing industrial chain." According to zhu meigen's analysis, many RCEP members are countries along the "One Belt And One Road" route. Through the connection between RCEP and the "One Belt And One Road" initiative, we will further enhance the resilience of the industrial and supply chains in the region, and gradually optimize the economic and trade layout of jiangsu on the "One Belt And One Road".

At the same time, the signing of the RCEP will give enterprises in the region multiple choices, such as whether to adopt the RCEP agreement, china-Cambodia free Trade Agreement or China-Asean agreement when exporting products to Cambodia, and how to obtain the optimal solution through going out and importing. Some industries may be impacted in the short term.

"We should not only make full use of the major historical opportunities brought by the RCEP, but also attach great importance to the challenges brought by the RCEP, plan solutions as soon as possible, urge enterprises to strengthen trade compliance, further increase publicity for enterprises, expand coverage and benefit from the RCEP." Relevant officials of the Provincial Department of Commerce indicated that they will further strengthen the study on the RCEP agreement and make efforts to build a new open economy system with higher quality in Jiangsu with the use of good foot rules.