Mr. Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce, made a study on foreign trade in Guangzhou on October 15 and 16, presided over symposiums on foreign trade of some provinces as well as symposiums on promoting development of exhibition industry, and also visited part of exhibition halls of the 112ed Canton Fair.

Minister Chen Deming said that, complex and changing world economic situation, slow recovery of world economy and shrinking demands in international market this year have exerted great impacts on our foreign trade. As for the sharp down-sliding trend of foreign trade, Chinese Government has introduced a series of policies and measures for improving the steady growth and optimizing the structure of foreign trade. In accordance with the spirit of executive meeting of the State Council held on September 12 and the requirements set in Opinions on Promoting the Steady Growth of Foreign Trade issued by General Office of the State Council on September 16, relevant departments take actions recently and introduce measures for implementation respectively. In the aspect of reducing charges, quality supervision, inspection and quarantine departments waive all the fees of entry and exit of goods, transport equipment, containers as well as entry-exit inspection and quarantine fees for other statutory inspection and quarantine goods. Customs stop collecting fees for copying declaration forms of import payment, export proceeds, and tax reimbursement for export, as well as declarations bar charges and fees for supervision. In the aspects of export credit insurance, MOFCOM and China Export & Credit Insurance Company co-issue Notice on Giving a Play of Export Credit Insurance to Promote the Steady Growth of Foreign Trade, so as to expand the export credit insurance among small-and-medium sized foreign enterprises. In tax reimbursement for export, SAT demands local administrations of taxation to speed up the progress of tax refunding and ensure the accuracy and time of tax reimbursement for export. As for trade facilitation, Customs actively promote the reforms of classified clearance, paperless clearance, “territorial declaration and port clearance” and classified management of enterprises in order to raise the level of trade facilitation. All these policies and measures are achieving results. MOFCOM will continue to work with relevant departments to implement the spirit of executive meeting of the State Council demands of relevant documents by General Office of the State Council.

Minister Chen Deming pointed out the more difficult the situation is, the more we should be good at seizing the favorable conditions and positive factors and build our confidence. China's traditional advantage has not been fundamentally weakened, while new advantage is gradually taking shape and the effects of the policy and measures of stabilizing foreign demands will be further demonstrated. The 18th NCCPC is to be held, which would greatly stimulate the development of all the sectors. MOFCOM should be in accordance with the deployment of the Central Government, make every effort in foreign trade in the forth quarter and strive to stabilize the growth of annual imports and exports, and make greater contributions to national economic growth.

At the Seminar, Mr. Chen said that the exhibition industry is an important part of modern service sector, deeply involved with extensive fields and with huge potential. It is of significance in promoting the transformation of economic development mode, increasing the proportion of service sector in national economy, and advancing the overall, coordinated and sustainable economic development of the society. In recent years, China’s exhibition industry has been developing fast, and the scale keeps expanding. In view of the quantity and scale, China has become a big country in terms of exhibition industry in the world; however, the level of professionalism, marketization, and internationalization of the industry is relatively low, and China is far from being a big power in this industry. Mr. Chen said that we should take the initiative to learn from international experience, transform attitude, innovate work modes, give full play to the basic function of the market in allocating resources, and promote the development of our exhibition industry from extensive to intensive management, and from extension to intention meaning. MOFCOM would like to carry out in-depth cooperation with Guangdong province, and support Guangdong province, especially Guangzhou city to play a leading role in the development of national exhibition industry.

Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping and Assistant Minister Qiu Hong took part in the research.

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)