“Border and cross-border” institutional innovation promotes opening
——China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone demonstrates development vitality
On August 30, the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone opened for the second anniversary. In the past two years, the three areas of the Pilot Free Trade Zone have made efforts to innovate their systems, using the “border and cross-border” and “first in Yunnan” exploration attempts to help stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, and effectively promote Yunnan’s higher level of opening to the outside world.
Statistics show that in 2020, there will be 17,874 newly established enterprises in the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, accounting for only 0.03% of the province’s land area, accounting for 13.2% of the total number of newly established enterprises in the province; The province’s foreign trade import and export growth rate was 76 percentage points, driving the province’s overall foreign trade growth by 14.8 percentage points; the actual use of foreign capital was US$369 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.5 times, accounting for 46% of the province’s actual use of foreign capital.
From January to June 2021, 10469 newly registered enterprises were established in the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, a year-on-year increase of 23.7%; foreign trade imports and exports completed 50.163 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 281%, which is higher than the province’s 222.6 foreign trade imports and exports in the same period Percentage points, accounting for 33.6% of the province’s total foreign trade import and export value; the actual use of foreign capital was 42.15 million US dollars.
In the past two years, the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has focused on institutional innovation and insisted on bold experiments, bold breakthroughs, and independent reforms.
On the basis of 106 national reform pilot tasks, the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has increased its pressure to add 53 provincial reform pilot tasks, and decompose 159 pilot tasks to relevant provincial departments and districts one by one. As of June 2021, 100% of the 106 national reform pilot tasks have formed a work plan, 82 projects have been implemented, accounting for 77.4%, 42 experience cases have been reported after third-party evaluation, 1 national replication and promotion, and 18 replication and promotion in the province . The “Multiple Handling Mechanism for Foreign-related Contradictions and Disputes in Border Areas” reported by Yunnan was successfully selected as the “Fourth Batch of Best Practice Cases in the National Pilot Free Trade Zone”.
In the past two years, the three regions have closely followed their development goals and tasks, blazed new trails in various fields, and strived to play the role of comprehensively deepening reforms and expanding opening-up test plots.
The Kunming area closely follows institutional innovation, and has formed a number of innovative achievements in the transformation of government functions, investment facilitation, trade liberalization, financial service innovation, etc., “Innovating the commercial arbitration and mediation service supply mode of the Pilot Free Trade Zone with the national legal service complex “Such cases were reported to the Ministry of Commerce. The Honghe area has stepped up exploration efforts in many areas. For example, in terms of expanding the opening up of the financial sector, it encourages qualified insurance agent companies in the area to carry out cross-regional factoring business, and provide companies with trade financing, accounts receivable management, and Services such as credit risk guarantees effectively reduce corporate trade risks. The Dehong area has firmly grasped system innovation, and summarized the reported reform pilot experience, 6 of which were replicated and promoted across the province, 18 best practices were first replicated and promoted throughout the state, and 23 reforms and innovation system policies were introduced in total.
In the past two years, the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has focused on the main task of “testing the system for the country, seeking development for the locality, and benefiting the masses” to promote various tasks.
Continue to attract investment and strengthen industry support. Focusing on the functions of high-end manufacturing, aviation logistics, cross-border e-commerce and other pilot free trade zones, we will position key industries, and formulate industrial development plans and investment guides. Use platform investment promotion and commissioned investment promotion, make full use of China Southern Expo, China International Import Expo and other exhibitions to attract investment, and carry out precise investment promotion and industrial chain investment promotion. The Kunming area has introduced a series of policies such as the “Golden Ten Measures” for investment promotion, and introduced major industrial projects such as GLP Industrial Park and Henan Bonded Cross-border E-commerce. The Honghe area promoted the construction of Beishan International Cold Chain Logistics (smart cabin) and other projects at the Hekou Port. Dehong area compiled and printed relevant investment guides, and signed investment agreements with 16 well-known domestic enterprises including OCT Yunnan Cultural Investment.
Promote the reform of decentralization, management and service, and optimize the business environment. The first is to increase the intensity of empowerment reforms. In accordance with the principle of “should let go”, the provincial-level economic management authority is granted to each district management committee to exercise it in accordance with the law. Up to now, the 3 districts have handled 12158 business license matters involving “separation of licenses and licenses”. Second, the level of facilitation of customs clearance has been greatly improved. The overall customs clearance time for exports in the Pilot Free Trade Zone is 0.13 hours, which is 2.34 hours less than the national average. In 2020, border trade in Yunnan Province will account for 18% of the province’s total foreign trade imports and exports, and the proportion will increase further. Among them, the Honghe area opened a green channel for fast customs clearance of agricultural products from the estuary of the Sino-Vietnamese border-Laojie port, and the realization of “immediate arrival, immediate inspection and immediate release” of agricultural products. The Dehong area implemented the customs clearance mode of “one port, multiple channels” and “two-step declaration” for imports, and activated the province’s first border inspection self-service customs clearance system. The third is to adhere to the concept of “the rule of law is the best business environment”. The “Administrative Measures for Pilot Free Trade Zones” were promulgated and implemented, and a public legal service center was established. The Kunming area provides one-stop comprehensive legal services for domestic and foreign enterprises and individuals. The Dehong area has established a policy and regulation bureau, appoints external legal consultants, and establishes a system of public lawyers and legal consultants.
Based on the border, innovate cross-border cooperation models. Innovate a new model for the development of cross-border parks, with Ruili Huanshan Industrial Park in Dehong area as the Chinese park and Myanmar Muse Industrial Park as the Myanmar park to build a Sino-Myanmar cross-border processing industry chain. Giving play to the role of linkage, the linkage between provinces, states (municipalities), and districts, and horizontal cooperation among multiple departments at the same level, to deepen the construction. Cooperation and linkage agreements have been signed between the three areas to continuously improve the information sharing, coordinated innovation, and linkage development mechanisms. Establish the first batch of joint innovation zones in the China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone to carry out cooperation and docking in areas such as planning and layout. Accelerate the cultivation of new trade formats, the Kunming and Dehong cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas have been steadily advancing, and the Honghe area has actively carried out cross-border e-commerce retail import trials. In 2020, the cross-border e-commerce retail import and export volume of Yunnan Province reached 1.35 billion yuan, which was 13.1 times that of 2019. (Reporter Han Chengyuan Liu Ziyu)