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Outward-looking economy gives new vitality to Hainan

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Statistics show that Hainan has deepened its cooperation with RCEP countries in trade and investment since the beginning of this year. Trade in goods has grown rapidly, trade in services has covered all RCEP countries, two-way investment and industrial projects have been launched, regional integration and connectivity have been improved, and efforts have been increased to make innovations in institutions. 

Since the RCEP entered into force, Hainan has issued the first RCEP certificate of origin along with the first order of goods exported under the RCEP, and approved the first exporter under the RCEP, indicating the vitality of economic development. Hainan has introduced 20 measures to implement the RCEP and promote the duplicate effect of the RCEP and the Free Trade Port policies, unleashing the dividends of opening-up and adding new drivers to the development of the outward-looking economy. 

In terms of trade in goods, the first quarter saw that Hainan’s goods trade with RCEP countries totaled RMB 14.09 billion, up 45.8% year on year, and 38.9 percentage points higher than the national level. Export volume was up 44.67% year on year, 99.87 percentage points high than that of last year over the same period of time; and import volume was up 46.1% year on year, 20.18 percentage points higher than that of last year over the same period of time. 

In terms of trade in services, Hainan’s services trade with RCEP countries totaled RMB 1.513 billion in the first quarter, accounting for 24.64% of the province’s total export-import volume in the same period, realizing full coverage of RCEP countries. Among them, services trade with Myanmar was carried out for the first time, the trade volumes with Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan all scored three-digit growth year on year, and trade volumes with Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam scored double-digit growth above those of the period last year. Services trade was mainly concentrated in tourism, transportation, commerce, computing, processing and IPR services. 

In terms of two-way investment, RCEP countries are accelerating their investment layouts in Hainan. In the first quarter of this year, a total of 50 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in Hainan by RCEP countries, 4 of which were invested by Myanmar enterprises for the first time. The number of Malaysian enterprises in Hainan saw a year-on-year increase of 600%; and a number of projects invested by RCEP countries, including Singapore Raffles (Hainan) Medical and Elderly Care Center, have been launched in Hainan. Hainan enterprises are also speeding up paces to “go global” and 10 enterprises have been established or merged by Hainan enterprises in RCEP countries in the first quarter, up 66.67% year on year. 

In terms of promoting regional integration and connectivity, the Yangpu Port has opened 18 foreign trade routes and registered its first foreign-funded international ship, further improving the trade circulation network. The function of China International Consumer Products Expo as a platform is more and more prominent and many RCEP countries will participate in the second Expo this year, strengthening regional economic and trade cooperation. High-level talents from RCEP countries like South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand have applied for residence permits for work in Hainan Free Trade Port, facilitating the flow of talents and employment. 

In terms of optimizing business environment, Hainan plays a leading and exploratory role in implementing the encouraging obligations under the RCEP Agreement, released the Management Measures for the Protection of New Plant Varieties in Hainan Free Trade Port (Trial), creatively established the essentially derived variety (EDV) system and expanded the scope of protection for new plant varieties. Hainan has strengthened enterprise service guidance by launching the Hainan RCEP tariff inquiry service platform, which offers information and comparison of the same commodity across 14 signatory countries. 

“According to Hainan’s geographical conditions and the advantages of the high-level opening system of the free trade port, the RCEP will bring more opportunities and dividends of trade and investment liberalization to Hainan”, said Zhao Jinping, former director of the Research Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Development Research Center of the State Council.



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All rights reserved.