In 2021, we will focus on promoting the import and export optimization plan to encourage foreign trade to upgrade to a high level, followed by a high value-added level

Wang Wentao, secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Commerce and minister of the Ministry of Commerce, put forward three plans to stabilize foreign trade in 2021, among which the "import and export" plan will be the first, including building a national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone and fostering new forms and models of foreign trade.

As an important step to accelerate the building of a trading power, China is accelerating the transition from large imports and large exports to better imports and better exports, so as to improve the quality and efficiency of foreign trade.

New background, new connotation

In Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, the equipment manufacturing industry chain enjoys a good reputation in the industry. In the course of opening up and development, this region has rapidly formed advantageous industries such as rail transit equipment, cemented carbide and aviation equipment. The total import and export volume of foreign trade has increased by more than 100 million US dollars every year since 2016. The above achievements and Zhuzhou in recent years to accelerate from the big into the big out of the closely related to the best into the best out.

In fact, this policy has a certain continuity. It has been several years since China proposed to promote preferential imports and exports in trade. In 2015, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council, at the symposium on Chinese equipment going global and promoting international production capacity cooperation, stressed the need to promote China's foreign trade from large imports and large exports to quality imports and quality exports. In 2018, Li Keqiang visited the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs on further opening up and chaired a symposium, pointing out that we should actively promote the transformation of foreign trade to achieve better import and export.

In recent years, China has accelerated its efforts to promote better imports and exports, which has enhanced the quality and resilience of China's foreign trade development. In 2021, the Plan for Optimal Import and Export will continue to be an important part of the Ministry of Commerce's efforts to stabilize foreign trade, but it has acquired more special significance and connotation under the new background.

Su Qingyi, deputy director of the International Trade Office of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with International Business Daily that at present, China is speeding up the construction of a new development pattern, and the international Covid-19 epidemic is still under impact. The above two background more highlights the importance of China's foreign trade. "Optimal import" is to import products that can meet domestic circulation, while "optimal export" is to achieve high-quality export and realize the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade structure. "Optimizing import and export will not only stabilize foreign trade, but also help China build a new pattern of development."

"In the new stage of development, we should have a new development concept, so as to build a new pattern of development." Cui Fan, a professor at the International Trade Department of the School of International Business and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics, stressed in an interview with the International Business Daily that for a long time, China's import and export has been characterized by large imports and large exports, mainly relying on labor cost advantages, raw materials and markets are highly dependent on foreign countries, large scale and low efficiency. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China has put forward the strategy of optimizing import and export, and the quality and efficiency of foreign trade have improved. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China needs to further implement the strategy of optimizing import and export, fight a tough battle to improve the quality and efficiency of foreign trade, strengthen weak links, and create new international competitive advantages based on innovation through wider and deeper opening up.

Optimal entry and optimal exit to play a "combination of boxing"

Optimal import and export has been put forward for many years, and the pace of promotion at the local level has been accelerating. As early as 2016, the government of Jiangsu Province issued the Action Plan of "Optimizing Import and Export" in Foreign Trade of Jiangsu Province (2016-2020), and Hebei and other places also proposed to implement the foreign trade development strategy of "Optimizing Import and Export" and "Optimizing Quality and Optimizing Price".

Su Qingyi said that in recent years, China's foreign trade has been in the process of transformation and upgrading, with remarkable achievements. The proportion of general trade in total foreign trade has continued to rise, and the expansion of imports has also achieved remarkable results. However, at the same time, there are also obvious shortcomings, such as the export quality of some subdivided products is not high, or do not have the ability to export. Of the products that need to be imported, some products are not available or have to be bought at a high price. To promote quality import and export, we need to take systematic measures, such as promoting enterprise innovation, enhancing research and development capabilities, solving financing problems for enterprises, creating a favorable development environment for enterprises, and continuously promoting the diversification of import and export markets.

Cui Fan also believes that there are still some problems in China's export, such as more competition on price and less competition on quality. More homogenization competition, less differentiation competition; Lack of influential brands; Lack of linkage between domestic and foreign markets; Service trade export competitiveness needs to be improved. In terms of import, the import of key technology fields is subject to export control from abroad, the lack of pricing power of bulk commodity imports makes it difficult to improve the efficiency, and the role of import in meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life has not been fully played. In the new stage of development, China needs to seek breakthroughs to solve these problems with innovation as the core, seize the advantages of the super-large domestic market and the potential of domestic demand, and make domestic and foreign cycles mutually reinforcing.

Xing Houyuan, director of the China Service Outsourcing Research Center, stressed that improving import and export is not a total denial of big imports and big exports, but more emphasis should be placed on the quality and efficiency of imports and exports. Encourage the import of advanced technology, key equipment and important parts and components in short supply, and the export of high-grade and high-value-added products, as well as the "whole industry chain export" of products, technologies and services.

To better promote trade in optimal out, the personage inside course of study advice, to launch as early as possible about optimal into optimal out of the top design, give full play to the promotion of national import trade innovation demonstration area, the national foreign trade transformation and upgrading of base and comprehensively deepen innovation service trade development the role of the pilot and other platforms, the new mode to speed up cultivating new forms of foreign trade at the same time, should pay attention to the development of quality, promote fusion, internal integration, import and export trade in goods and services trade integration, traditional trade form and the new trade form, promoting the development of the linkage of the different forms of trade.