<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-01-26/China-to-expand-market-access-in-boosting-foreign-trade-1qGmCX316Yo/img/3d68cca669424826b26305501e035a9a/3d68cca669424826b26305501e035a9a.png' alt='Cars loaded onto a cargo ship bound for overseas, Anhui, China, January 24, 2024. /CFP'
China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao announced on Friday to further bolster foreign trade and investment, building on existing measures to cultivate an even more open economy.
“Our aim is to make China’s massive market a shared market for the world,” Wang said, emphasizing on expanding imports.
High-quality consumer goods, advanced technology, and other key categories will be prioritized, accompanied by efforts to streamline import procedures and facilitate foreign business operations.
This comes against the backdrop of a steady trade performance in 2023. China’s total trade in goods reached 41.76 trillion yuan ($5.88 trillion), a modest 0.2 percent increase year on year.
Meanwhile, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a major free trade agreement encompassing 15 economies, continues to bear fruit.
Trade between China and the other 14 RCEP members reached 12.6 trillion yuan in 2023, surging 5.3 percent compared to 2021, before the agreement was implemented.
Companies within the bloc reaped tangible benefits from tariff reductions and exemptions, totaling 2.36 billion yuan for imports into China and 4.05 billion yuan for imports into the RCEP partners in 2023.
China’s foreign investment landscape witnessed another positive year in 2023. Actual utilization of foreign investment hit $163.25 billion, with a noteworthy shift towards high-tech industries. Investment in this sector reached a record high, accounting for 37.4 percent of the total, up 1.3 percentage points from 2022.