Friends from the media:

Welcome to the Press Conference today. I’m glad to see you again. Next, I will brief you the business performance of September 2015, and answer your questions.

I. Market performance and features

Since the beginning of this year, the domestic consumer market maintained a steady growth, playing an important role in stabilizing economic growth. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of consumer goods in the first three quarters reached RMB21.6 trillion, up 10.5% year on year and 0.1 percentage points higher than that of the first half of the year; with the prices factors excluded, the actual growth was 10.5%. The retail sales of consumer goods of September was up 10.9% year on year, 0.1 percentage points higher than that of August, with the monthly growth rate picking up for two consecutive months. The driving role of consumption to the economy has been strengthening continuously, with the final consumption expenditures contributing 58.4% to the GDP growth in the first three quarters, 9.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period of the previous year. Main features of the consumer markets are as follows:

1. New business types grew rapidly. In the first three quarters, the retail sales of online goods was up 34.7% year on year, accounting for 10% of the total social retail sales of consumer goods, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of August. Growth of the online retails of the enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce was up 6.9 percentage points compared with that of the same period last year. Among these, the sales of Yiguo in Shanghai, Osmum in Zhejiang and Suning E-commerce were up 179.1%, 100% and 70.8% respectively. Sales of shopping centers increased rapidly, up 12.1% year on year, 7.6 percentage points higher than the retail industry.

2. Housing consumption picked up gradually. The picking up of the real estate market drove the consumption of the goods related to housing grew rapidly. In the first three quarters, the sales of building materials, furniture and household appliances of enterprises above the designated size were up 18.6%, 16.7% and 10.8% respectively, 4.8, 2.2 and 2.1 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year; the growth of sales of building materials of enterprises above the designated size in September was up 14 percentage points year on year.

3. Consumption for basic living goods grew steadily. Rigid consumption for food and living goods grew steadily. In the first three quarters, sales of food and living goods of the enterprises above the designated size were up 13.9% and 11.8% respectively, 3.1 and 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. Among these, the sale of food in September was up 18.9% year on year, 11.4 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

4. Hotspots of public leisure consumption sprung up. With the upgrading of the consumption structure, public demands for leisure and entertainment saw a sustainable growth. In the first three quarters, the revenue of social catering was up 11.7% year on year, 2 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. Among these, the catering revenue of enterprises under the designated size was up 13.5%, 6.5 percentage points higher than that of the enterprises above the designated size. The film box office earning in the first three quarters was 33 billion yuan, up over 50% year on year, almost RMB3.4 billion more than that of 2014. The sales of sports and the entertainment goods of the enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce were up 8.3% year on year, 4.4 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The public travel mode has transformed from the traditional sightseeing type to the mixed sightseeing mode of leisure, free travel and self-driving. Urban leisure, fruits picking in the countryside and parent-child travel in summer holiday and weekends were welcomed widely.

5. Consumption for energy-saving and intelligent goods saw growing demands. With the popularization of the concepts of energy saving and environment protection and promoted by the policies, the intelligent products have been developing from the old, and the demands for energy-saving and intelligent goods were exuberant. In the first three quarters, the sale of new-energy automobiles was up 2.3 times year on year. Among these, the sale in September hit a new record high. The sales of Grade-One energy consumption refrigerator and air conditioner of the enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce were up 17.5% and 9.8% year on year respectively, 15.7 and 13.2 percentage points higher than that of the refrigerator category and the air conditioner category respectively; the sale of Ultra Clear 4K TV was up 14.8% year on year, 9.3 percentage points higher than that of the TV goods. With the rapid development of information technology and the popularization of smart phones, the sales of communication equipments of enterprises above the designated size were up 35.8% year on year, maintain a growth rate of about 30% for 17 consecutive months.

6. The consumer price was generally steady. In the first three quarters, CPI was up 1.4% year on year, 0.1 percentage points higher than that of the first half year. CPI in September was up 1.6% year on year, 0.4 percentage points slower than that of August. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce, the general price level of farm products in the 36 large and medium sized cities was up 0.3% year on year. Among these, that of September was up 2.1% year on year. In terms of the categories, the prices of pork, vegetable and chicken in September was up 14.4%, 6.57% and 3.8% year on year respectively; and those of mutton, fruits and eggs were down 13.5%, 7.9% and 3.8% year on year respectively.

II. Foreign Trade

According to the Customs statistics, China’s total import and export in September 2015 reached RMB2.22 trillion, down 8.8% year on year (the same as below). Among them, the export was 1.3 trillion yuan, down 1.1%, and import 0.92 trillion yuan, down 17.7%. The trade surplus was RMB376.2 billion, up 96.1%. In terms of the U.S. dollar, the total import and export reached US$ 350.8 billion, down 11.4%, among which, the export was US$ 205.6 billion, down 3.7 %, and the import US$ 145.2 billion, down 20.4%. The trade surplus was US$ 60.3 billion, up 93.3%. The foreign trade in September presented the following features:

1. The decrease of export slowed down, but the import was still depressed. In September, with the foreign trade’ steady growth and with the effects of the policy of structure adjusting gradually showing, the decrease of export continued slowing down, 5 percentage points slower than that of the previous month. Affected by the low price of bulk commodities and the high base number of the same period of 2014, the import continued the negative growth, decreasing more than 3.3 percentage points than that of the previous month.

2. Exports to the U.S., EU and ASEAN stopped dropping and picked up, and imports from surrounding regions decreased largely. China’s exports to the U.S., ASEAN and EU were up 9.9%, 9% and 3% respectively, 11.5, 14.3 and 11.1 percentage points higher than in August. Among these, exports to EU saw the first positive growth in the recent three month. Exports to the BRICS countries were differentiated obviously. Among these, exports to India and South Africa were up 18.4% and 16.8% respectively, but exports to Russia and Brazil were down 32.1% and 27.7% respectively. Export to Hong Kong was down 20.5%, dragging the total exports growth down 3.6 percentage points. Imports from Hong Kong, ROK, ASEAN and Japan were down 29.3%, 21.9%, 24% and 17% respectively, dragging the whole import growth down by 7.1 percentage points. Imports from the U.S., the EU and the BRICS countries were down 5.7%, 11.9% and 13.6% respectively, 0.9, 10.2 and 3.4 percentage points slower than that of the previous month.

3. Growth of exports of general trade recovered, but the decrease of processing trade expanded. Imports and exports of general trade were RMB1,194.1 billion, down 4.5%. Among these, exports picked up after two months, increasing 4.8%.. Imports and exports of the processing trade were RMB700.5 billion, down 17.7%, 7.8 percentage points higher than that of the previous month. Among these, affected by the high base number of the same period of last year and the transfer of orders, imports were down 30%. Imports and exports of other trade were RMB329.5 billion, down 2.2%.

4. Export of mechanical and electrical products saw a rapid growth, and the import of some bulk commodities increased but the price dropped. The export of mechanical products and hi-tech products was RMB754.6 billion and RMB377.2 billion, up 8% and 7.6% respectively, with a record high rapid growth since March. Among these, the export of ships, integrated circuit and lamps and lanterns were up 120%, 20.9% and 9.4% respectively. The export of the seven kinds of labor intensive products reached RMB 273.5 billion, down 2.1%, 4.3 percentage points lower than the previous week. The import amount of some bulk commodities increased largely while their price falls.. The import of soybean, liquefied petroleum gas, copper material, refined oil, iron ore and crude oil went up 44.4%, 16.5%, 16.2%, 9.4%, 1.7% and 1.5% respectively, but the import price was down 22.6%, 40.1%, 21.4%, 46.5%, 31.9% and 48.7% respectively, pulling down 8.7 percentage points of the overall growth of imports as a result of the price drop.

5. Imports and exports of Eastern China were better than those of the whole country, and those of Western and Central China decreased slightly. Imports and exports of the Eastern China reached RMB 1.8903 trillion, down 8.3%, 0.5 percentage points lower than those of the whole country. Among these, exports of eastern China were up 0.1%, the average growth rate of Jiangsu province, Fujian province, Zhejiang province, Shanghai city and Liaoning province was above 7%, with an increase of 1.8, 1,1, 0.9 and 0.3 percentage points higher than the national total respectively. Imports and exports of central China was RMB 163.2 billion, and those of Western China was RMB 170.6 billion, down 9.9% and 12.8% respectively, 9.5 and 6.5 percentage points lower than those in August.

III. Foreign Investment in China

In January-September 2015, a total of 18,980 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved, going up 10.1% year on year. The actually utilized foreign capital was RMB584.74 billion (US$94.9 billion), up 9% year on year. In September, 2,153 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved, up 5.2% year on year. The actually utilized foreign capital amounted to RMB59.47 billion (US$9.56 billion), up 7.1% year on year.

1. The industrial structure was further optimized, the absorption of FDI in high-tech service and hi-tech manufacturing sustained a rising momentum. In January-September, the actually-utilized FDI in service sector stood at US$57.99 billion, up 19.2% year on year, taking up 61.1% of the national total, that in hi-tech service sector amounted to US$6.16 billion, up 57.6% year on year, taking up 17.1% of the total actual use of foreign capital in service sector (excluding the real estate). Among these, R&D and design service, information technology service, and scientific research service stood out with an increase of 49.5%, 37.2% and 102.5% year on year. The actually utilized FDI in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery registered US$1.1 billion, down 7.4% year on year, taking up 1.2% of the national total. The utilized FDI in manufacturing reached US$29.84 billion, up 0.7% year on year, taking up 31.4% of the national total, of which the actually utilized FDI in high-tech manufacturing was US$7 billion, up 10.4% year on year, taking up 23.5% of the total actually utilized FDI in manufacturing. Among these, the actually utilized FDI in electronic computer components manufacturing, integrated circuit manufacturing, communication equipment manufacturing, and aerospace and aviation manufacturing increased 25.6%, 75.5%, 171.7% and 49.2% respectively.

2. Investment from major countries and regions maintained a steady growth. In January-September, the actual input of FDI from the top 10 countries and regions (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan Province, the ROK, Japan, the U.S., Germany, France, the UK and Macao) totaled US$89.44 billion, taking up 94.2% of the actually utilized national FDI, up 8.8% year on year. Among these, investment from Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and France registered US$69.64 billion, US$760 million, US$5.07 billion and US$1.02 billion respectively, up 13.0%, 63.6%, 12.3% and 99.1% respectively; the investment from 28 EU countries registered US$5.52 billion, up 14% year on year and the investment from the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries registered US$5.64 billion, up 15% year on year.

In September, the actual input of foreign capital by ASEAN countries registered US$1.21 billion, up 430.6% year on year, and that by 28 EU countries reached US$400 million, up 9.8% year on year.

3.The actual use of FDI in eastern, central and western China sustained a rapid growth. In January-September, 2015, the actually utilized FDI in eastern China, central China and western China was US$80.53 billion, US$8.62 billion and US$5.75 billion respectively, up 10.1% , 0.3% and 2.2% respectively year on year.

4.The value and percentage of foreign M&A increased greatly. In January-September, a total of 1,016 foreign-invested enterprises were approved by M&A with a contract value of US$18.93 billion and its actual use of foreign capital was US$15.29 billion, going up 16.5%, 155.3% and 204.5% respectively. The percentage M&A takes up among the total actually utilized FDI in January-September has risen to 16.1% from 5.8% over the same period of last year.

IV. China’s Investment and Economic Cooperation Overseas

Direct investment overseas. In January-September, the Chinese investors have made non-financial direct investment in 5,162 enterprises around 150 countries and regions, with an accumulative investment of RMB538.9 billion (US$87.3 billion, note:US$1=RMB6.1730)), going up 16.5% year on year. Among these, equity and debt instrument investment amounted to RMB461.12 billion (US$74.7 billion), up 21.5% year on year, taking up 85.6% of the total. The reinvestment of earnings registered RMB77.78 billion (US$12.6 billion), going down 6.7% year on year, taking up 14.4% of the total. By the end of September, China’s combined non-financial direct investment amounted to RMB5.5 trillion (US$832.3 billion).

In September, the Chinese investors made US$10.3 billion direct investment overseas , up 5.2% year on year. Among these, equity and debt instrument investment registered US$8.9 billion, up 7.4% year on year, taking up 86.4% of the total; the reinvestment of earnings amounted to US$1.4 billion, down 6.7% year on year, taking up 13.6% of the total.

In January-September, the number of M&A projects made by the Chinese enterprises overseas reached 324, involving 50 countries and regions, with a total actual value of US$20.18 billion. Among these, the direct investment was US$17.79 billion, taking up 88.2% of the total M&A value. It covered 18 industrial categories including information transportation/software and information technology service, manufacturing, leasing and business service, financing, wholesale and retailing, real estate, construction industry, mining industry, water conservancy/environment and public facility management, scientific research and technical service.

In January-September, the number of countries and regions with Chinese foreign direct investment flow above US$100 million reached 45, 1. Among these, 10 countries were above US$1 billion, including China’s Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, the U.S., Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Australia, Laos and Brazil. Chinese enterprises have made direct investment in 48 countries along the line of the “Belt and Road,” with an accumulative value of US$12.03 billion, going up 66.2% year on year, mainly in Singapore, Kazakhstan, Laos, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand and the like.

Contracted Projects overseas. .In January-September, the turnover of China’s contracted projects overseas amounted to RMB622.36 billion (US$100.82 billion), up 9.2% year on year. The newly-signed contract value was RMB849.59 billion (US$137.63 billion), up 26.5% year on year. In September, the turnover stood at US$12.12 billion, up 8.6% year on year, with a newly-signed contract value of US$12.59 billion, up 16.4% year on year.

In January-September, there are 479 projects, each with a newly-signed contract value of above US$50 million (an increase of 63 compared with last year’s 416), with a combined value of US$114.3 billion, taking up 83.1% of the total.

In January-September, the newly-signed contracted projects with large contract value were: the hydropower project in Angola undertaken by China Gezhouba Group Co.,Ltd (the contract amount is US$4.53 billion) and the interurban railway project of Ogun State of Nigeria undertaken by CCECC(the contract amount is US$3.51 billion).

In January-September, the Chinese enterprises have signed 3,059 contracted foreign projects with 57 countries along the line of “the Belt and Road”. The newly-signed contract value registered US$59.11 billion, taking up 42.9% of China’s total value of the newly-signed contracted foreign projects, up 24.9% year on year. The turnover was US$44.02 billion, taking up 43.7% of the total, up 5% year on year.

By the end of September, the contract value of China’s contracted projects overseas amounted to US$1.49921 trillion, with a turnover of US$1.03598 trillion.

Labor service cooperation overseas. In the first-third quarters, the labor service personnel dispatched overseas amounted to 381,000, with a decrease of 14,000 over the same period of last year, going down 3.5% year on year. Labor service personnel dispatched overseas for contracted projects were 190,000 and that for labor service cooperation were 191,000. In September, a total of 38,000 labor service personnel were sent abroad with a decrease of 4,000. By the end of September, the labor service personnel dispatched overseas reached 1,024,000, with an increase of 44,000 over the same period of last year.

By the end of September, the labor service personnel dispatched overseas totaled 7,860,000.

V. Service Outsourcing

In January-September, the contract value of service outsourcing signed by Chinese enterprises registered US$85.45 billion and the executed contract value registered US$61.50 billion, going up 16.4% and 12.8% year on year respectively. Among these, the contract value of offshore service outsourcing amounted to US$56.47 billion and the executed contract value amounted to US$40.97 billion, going up 17.2% and 10.5% year on year respectively. The contract value of onshore service outsourcing reached US$25.22 billion and the executed contract value reached US$17.46 billion, with an increase of 14.9% and 17.6% year on year respectively. Some features are presented as follows:

Firstly, the offshore outsourcing business undertaken from the major markets maintained a stable growth. In January-September, the executed value of Chinese enterprises undertaken from the top ten countries and regions of offshore outsourcing business added up to US$29.19 billion, accounting for 71.2% of the total executed value of offshore outsourcing, with an increase of 13.1% year on year. The executed value of service outsourcing undertaken from the United States reached US$9.46 billion, with an increase of 10.8% year on year, the executed value of service outsourcing undertaken from the EU reached US$6.21 billion, with an increase of 15.9%; and the service outsourcing undertaken from countries and regions such as Singapore, South Korea, China Taiwan, England and Netherlands enjoyed an obvious increase.

Secondly, the industrial structure of service outsourcing was gradually optimized. In January-September, the executed value of offshore business of information technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing reached US$20.2 billion, US$5.74 billion and US$15.02 billion respectively, each accounting for 49.3%, 14% and 36.7%. The industrial structure was increasingly optimized, further promoting the economic transformation development. For example, Dongguan takes the advantage of its manufacturing industry with strong foundation to positively carry out the industrial design, inspection, detection, service outsourcing research and development. The proportion of the knowledge process outsourcing exceeds 70%, not only promoting the economic transformation, but also pushing forward the level of manufacturing to a new level.

Thirdly, the industrial growth of the second and third class cities accelerated and the proportion was further improved. Since the operating cost and human cost went up rapidly, the service outsourcing enterprises began to develop their business in the second and third class cities and the proportion of the industries of non-model cities was further improved. In January-September, the contracted value of offshore service outsourcing undertaken by the non-model cities reached US$6.67 billion and the executed value reached US$4.49 billion, with an increase of 39.8% and 19.7% respectively year on year, far higher than the average growth of China.

Fourthly, the number of newly-increased employees greatly increased. In the first nine months, the newly-increased employees of service outsourcing enterprises reached 793,000, with 479,000 of them having college certificates or degrees above that, up 38.1% and 25.7% year on year respectively. The new employment number increased largely in provinces such as Hebei, Henan, Hubei and Jiangxi，benefiting from the synergetic development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and the transference of the service outsourcing industries to the inland cities.

Fifthly, the number of the newly-signed large offshore service outsourcing contracts increased. In September, the contract value of offshore service outsourcing undertaken by China reached US$10.89 billion, with an increase of 105.3% month on month. The contract value of 6 newly-signed offshore outsourcing projects exceeded US$100 million, and 65 projects were beyond US$10 million, obviously better than the previous eight months. Most strikingly, the contract value of the technology-based knowledge process outsourcing undertaken by GlaxoSmithKoline in China from its holding company reached US$1.6 billion.

The above is the business situation in September. You are welcome to raise any questions.

China Daily: British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne put forward an infrastructure development scheme at the Conservative Party Annual Conference on 9 October. British experts believe that the UK’s need for infrastructure improvement is likely to become a new highlight in Sino-British cooperation. What's your view on this? In addition, President Xi has begun his state visit to the UK. The international community is generally positive about this visit, which marks the entry of China-UK cooperation into a “Golden Era”. What are the new trends in China-UK cooperation in recent years? What are the likely deliverables of President Xi’s visit? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: Your first question first. President Xi’s visit is a great event in the Golden Era of Sino-British relations. In recent years, as a major pillar of China-UK relations, the two countries’s commercial ties have developed rapidly with growing highlights. For China, the UK is the second largest trading partner and second largest source and destination of investment in the EU, whereas China is the UK’s fourth largest trading partner. Last year, China-UK bilateral trade reached USD 80.87 billion, increasing by 15.3% year on year, the highest growth margin amongst all EU member states in their trade with China. In the first nine months this year, while China’s trade with other major European trading partners suffered marked year-on-year declines, China-UK trade remained stable and stood at USD 58 billion, demonstrating the stability and sustainability in China-UK trade.

Bilateral investment cooperation has also delivered encouraging results. By the end of August, the UK had invested in 7992 projects in China, with USD 19.61 billion of actualized investment. The stock of direct Chinese investment in the UK rose from USD 1.35 billion in the end of 2010 to USD 12.8 billion in the end of 2014. Today, with over 500 Chinese enterprises investing the UK, the country is fastest-growing investment destination for China in the EU. Meanwhile the two countries have also conducted fruitful cooperation in areas such as technological innovation, trade in services, regional cooperation and exploring third markets. It's fair to say that China-UK trade and economic cooperation has shown a positive momentum that is characterized by a steadily growing bilateral trade, deepening two-way investment and expanding areas of cooperation.

MOFCOM attaches great importance to the preparations for President Xi’s visit to the UK. Based on the work we have been directly involved in or learnt about, this visit is going to culminate in a number of important trade and economic deliverables. Among them are government-to-government agreements as well as cooperation projects between financial institutions and enterprises, covering multiple sectors including finance, energy, health, automobile and real estate. The cooperation will be in the forms of bilateral trade, two-way investment, technical cooperation, financial cooperation and strategic partnership. The total value of the projects will be enormous, surpassing the value of economic deliverables of any previous leader’s visit. This will fully reflect the features of China-UK trade and economic cooperation and the potential of future cooperation.

On the other question you just asked, that British experts believe that UK’s need for infrastructure improvements could be a new highlight in China-UK cooperation, we would like to say that we agree with their view. China-UK cooperation in infrastructure was smooth in the past, and shares enormous potential going forward. In the past, Chinese enterprises already invested in projects on airport, water service and airport city in the UK when it comes to infrastructure. The Belt and Road Initiative of the Chinese government and the UK Northern Powerhouse scheme will create new cooperation opportunities in infrastructure for businesses from the two countries. Therefore, MOFCOM encourages and supports the enterprises from both countries to conduct more project cooperation in the field of infrastructure. During President Xi’s visit, the China International Contractors’ Association is going to co-sponsor with the UKTI the “4th China-UK Infrastructure Investment and Cooperation Forum” and other related activities. This will not only meet the need for cooperation between China and UK, but also contribute to the deepening of cooperation between the two countries.

TV Tokyo: Please brief us on the year-on-year growth of Japanese investment in China in the first nine months of the year, and that of the US investment in China too.

Shen Danyang: According to the statistics I just released, investment from both Japan and the US to China decreased in the first nine months. Although I do not have the exact figures of the margin and size of the decrease, what I can tell you is that the decrease was not significant. Thank you.

International Business Daily: We have noticed recently that MOFCOM is leading two ongoing initiatives relating to creditworthiness. One is the launch of the “Honesty Boosts Commerce Publicity Month 2015”, which is sponsored by MOFCOM, and the other is the launch of the credit information sharing platform for enterprises in the field of commerce. Please talk to us about them.

Shen Danyang: Recently 18 ministries including MOFCOM and the Publicity Department of the CPC jointly issued a circular to officially launch the “Honesty Boosts Commerce Publicity Month 2015” campaign. Having been organized for many years, the campaign enters into its tenth year this year. It features the theme of “advocating the philosophy of achieving commercial prosperity with honesty, and jointly building a business environment based on integrity”. This year’s campaign will focus on publicity efforts in two aspects, namely “incentives for honest business conduct” and “punishment for lacking business integrity”. That is to say that apart from positive publicity, there is going to be penalties for dishonest business conduct and exposure of typical cases of such dishonest behaviors. The aim is to promote long-term institutional development for business honesty and maintain a good market environment through having a deterrent effect on dishonest business operators.

At the same time, the central platform of the first phase of the project on credit information sharing platform for enterprises in the field of commerce was already up and running. The central platform has a collection of over 1 million pieces of basic information on enterprises, nearly 500,000 pieces of business information and more than 20,000 pieces of credit information. Covering main the business lines of commerce, the information is presently available to the departments of MOFCOM in their administration. Going forward, while improving the credit records in the central platform, MOFCOM will support the provinces and municipalities that are ready, like Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, to set up regional credit information platforms and establish data exchange, and gradually realize data sharing with relevant departments like the Supreme People’s Court, customs administrations, taxation administrations, industry and commerce administrations and the administrations of quality inspection and quarantine.

CCTV: When paying a research visit to Hangzhou, Vice Premier Wang Yang stressed the need to be innovation-led and to promote the steady growth and structural adjustment in foreign trade. What are MOFCOM’s measures to support the development of new business models in foreign trade? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: Since the beginning of the year, MOFCOM has made a great effort to support the development of new business models in foreign trade, especially the three main business models of cross-border electronic commerce, market sourcing trade and foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises. The measures adopted have begun to show some initial effect.

In terms of supporting cross-border e-commerce, the focus is to implement the innovative measures of the Hangzhou cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone and expand the scope of comprehensive pilot zones. MOFCOM has worked together with the customs, taxation and quality inspection and quarantine authorities to guide Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou Municipality through formulating the Implementation Plan of the pilot zone, and to put forward policy innovation measures in four aspects, namely a management model for customs clearance that is adapted to cross-border e-commerce features, a regulatory model on the declaration and clearance of cross-border e-commerce goods for quality inspection and quarantine purposes, the application of duty-free policy to export goods without a legitimate and effective proof of purchase, and the application of a more relaxed foreign exchange administration policy. That is to say that on the four aspects that concern you, namely customs clearance, quality inspection and quarantine, tax refund and foreign exchange, experiments and pilot programs need to be conducted. Hangzhou is precisely experimenting in these four aspects. Now they already have come up with some workable measures of policy innovation. A total of 55 innovative measures concerning the four main aspects have been implemented, while relevant pilot programs have shown positive results. First, the size of cross-border e-commerce subject to supervision is growing rapidly. Since June, USD 627 million of export was completed through cross-border B2B transactions, whereas USD 440 million of import and export was completed through B2C on a cumulative basis. Second, the focus of cross-border development has shifted from B2C to B2B. Third, trade facilitation has further improved. Fourth, a statistics and monitoring system for cross-border e-commerce has been preliminarily established.

In terms of market sourcing trade, on the basis of the successful pilot in Yiwu, two more new pilots were launched this year in Haimen, Jiangsu and Haining, Zhejiang. The pilot programs are proceeding smoothly. Relevant departments are going through the replicable and applicable experience and on top of that coming up with a plan to further expand the coverage of the pilot programs on market sourcing trade, with a view to expanding the scope of such pilot programs as soon as possible.

In terms of promoting the comprehensive services of foreign trade, based on the work it had done together with other departments such as the People’s Bank of China, the General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation, the AQSIQ and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, MOFCOM has looked deep into the main difficulties and policy appeals of comprehensive service enterprises, proposed policy measures to support their development, formulated pilot work plans, and plans to launch the pilot program for foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises by the end of this year.

China News Service: We’ve noted that recently a data service agency under the Financial Times said that its research suggested that in the first half of this year, India’s FDI was approximately USD 31 billion as compared to USD 28 billion of China and USD 27 billion of the US. The report argued that this indicated that India had overtaken China in terms of attraction for FDI. What is MOFCOM’s comment on that? Thank you. (2015-10-20 11:14:17)

Shen Danyang: We’ve read about the report in the media. It is not clear from what sources the data service agency obtained the statistics. But another set of figures have caught our attention, which were released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry lately. According to MCI, India attracted USD 25.494 billion worth of foreign investment in the first half of the year, including USD 19.394 billion in FDI, which means that the Indian FDI figure that is comparable to China’s is USD 19.394 billion. According to MOFCOM’s statistics, China’s paid-in capital in the first half of the year stood at USD 68.4 billion. Authoritative figures speak for themselves. No comments are needed.

Taking this opportunity, I’d like to share with you another set of figures, which are quite uplifting. According to MOFCOM’s foreign investment statistics, this year till September, a large number of foreign companies from across the world closed new investment deals in China, with the contractual value up 50% year on year. US businesses, including big names like APCI, Eli Lilly, Ford Credit, Amazon and Hershey, invested USD 5.83 billion in China. In the meantime, companies from Germany and the ROK, among others, also posted growth in contractual investment in China. The contractual value of German investment in China stood at USD 2.39 billion, up 41.1% year on year. The figure for ROK investment in China was USD 6.08 billion, up 66.5% year on year. These developments have corroborated the recent survey of multinationals by UNCTAD, which finds that China continues to lead the world’s Top10 FDI destinations. (2015-10-20 11:14:44)

Shanghai Securities News: There have been some media reports recently that underground crude oil speculation platforms are uncommonly active these days, causing great chaos in the market. What regulatory measures will MOFCOM take? How will it protect the interests of investors? (2015-10-20 11:28:46)

Shen Danyang: We have noted recent media reports of irregularities in the oil trading market. For crude oil transactions in the trading market, the Foreign Trade Law, the Regulatory Measures for Crude Oil Market and the Regulatory Measures for Refined Oil provide that any business undertaking the import and export, wholesaling, warehousing and retailing of crude oil and refined oil shall possess credentials as prescribed by laws and regulations and obtain licensing from competent authorities. So far, MOFCOM hasn’t approved any trading market for crude oil and refined oil transactions.

The Underground speculations in the news are electronic futures trading under the cover of spot transactions. State laws and regulations and documents, such as the Decision of the State Council on Straightening out and Rectifying Various Types of Trading Venues to Effectively Prevent Financial Risks, Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Straightening out and Rectifying Various Types of Trading Venues, and the Circular of CSRC, NDRC, MIIT, MOFCOM, SAIC and CBRC on the Prohibition of Standardized Contract Transacting Activities in the Name of E-commerce, have provided that with the exception of futures trading venues authorized and recognized by the futures regulator of the State Council, no organization shall engage in standardized contract trading through centralized transactions, such as collective bidding, electronic matching, anonymous trading and market-making. Therefore, I want to specially remind investors not to listen to the illegal and misleading publicity of any agency and to guard against risks in protection of their own interests. (2015-10-20 11:29:03)
CBN: I have two questions. First, a few days ago, the State Council issued the Opinion of the State Council on the Implementation of the Negative List System of Market Access. Will MOFCOM take steps to advance the work? Does this mean that the China-US BIT negotiations are likely to conclude soon? Second, Chairman Khristenko of the Eurasian Economic Commission said that the EEC had started preparations for signing an FTA with China. What areas will this deal cover? What’s its significance for China and EEC members? Thank you. (2015-10-20 11:29:49)

Shen Danyang: I’ll first answer your second question. Last May, President Xi Jinping and President Putin signed the Joint Statement on the Alignment and Cooperation of the Development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Commission and co-announced the launch of the negotiations for the China-EEC Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement. On the same day, Minister Gao Hucheng of Commerce of China and Trade Commissioner Slepnev of the EEC signed a joint statement to commence the negotiations for an agreement that will put in place institutional arrangements for trade facilitation and finally lead to an FTA. At the SCO Trade and Economic Ministers’ Meeting last September, the sides agreed to set up a ministerial negotiating mechanism. An expert consultation will be held soon to discuss the scope, framework, formation and the negotiating mechanism of the Agreement.

After initial consultations, the two sides have outlined trade facilitation as the priority of the agreement, including, among others, technical standards, customs facilitation, inspection and quarantine and trade remedies. IPR, competition policy and market access will also be covered. The sides will also explore cross-border infrastructure, connectivity, and industrial and investment cooperation, so as to extend regional supply chains, value chains and information chains, strengthen interest integration, enhance risk resistance capability and provide continuous impetus for the development of the countries involved.

As a strategic partner of EEC members, China and the EEC enjoy high-level political mutual trust and close economic cooperation. China and EEC members are all emerging economies in the process of industrialization and urbanization with the same development tasks of economic restructuring and upgrading and similar cooperation needs. The signing of the deal can help the countries expand opening up, find new economic growth spots and gradually form a region-wide single passage and market. Meeting the long-term interests of EEC members and China, the deal is of great significance for advancing the Eurasian regional economic cooperation process.

As for the negative list for market access, this fully agrees with the overall direction of reform and opening up and the BIT negotiations we’re pushing forward. MOFCOM will carefully and comprehensively implement the decisions of the State Council to actively advance negotiations with other countries while rigorously executing related State Council decisions based on its remit. (2015-10-20 11:30:19)

Guangming Daily: On Hong Kong and Macau. On October 9, The Hong Kong SAR government said that it would negotiate a free trade agreement with Macau. The agreement is also referred to as the Hong Kong-Macau CEPA. How does MOFCOM comment on that? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: The economies of Hong Kong and Macau have their respective strengths, which are highly complementary. We are very pleased to learn that the two cities will launch negotiations on a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement to deepen their commercial exchanges and cooperation.

As you know, to strengthen economic cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macau and support economic development in the two SARs, since 2003, the Mainland has signed a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with Hong Kong and Macau successively, which is known as CEPA and ten supplementary agreements. At the end of 2014, the Agreement between the Mainland and Hong Kong on Achieving the Basic Liberalization of Trade in Services in Guangdong was signed. These agreements have given a strong boost to economic cooperation between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau and their respective development.

To further promote the economic ties between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau and realize the goal set by Premier Li Keqiang of “achieving the basic liberalization of trade in services between the Mainland and Hong Kong through CEPA by the end of the 12th Five-year Plan period”, MOFCOM is working closely with relevant departments to basically liberalize trade in services with Hong Kong and Macau by the end of the year.

Bloomberg News: On AB-Inbev’s acquisition of SABMiller. We know that SABMiller holds a large amount of Snow Beer equities. The new company to be founded after the takeover might occupy up to 40% of China’s beer market. Does MOFCOM worry about the excess market share of the new company and will it launch an anti-monopoly review? Can you share with us whether there has been a fast increase in the number of anti-monopoly cases initiated and resolved this year? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: You may have noticed that one prominent feature of China’s investment inflow and outflow this year is the proliferation of M&A cases. According to China’ s Anti-monopoly Law and the State Council Regulations on Notification Thresholds of Concentration of Undertakings, all business operators reaching the thresholds are required to notify MOFCOM. The current laws prohibit any undeclared concentration to go ahead. So far, MOFCOM has not received the notification on AB-Inbev’s acquisition of SABMiller.

In the first nine months of this year, MOFCOM saw a significant increase in the number of anti-monopoly cases declared, initiated and resolved, largely due to the surge in M&A activities in the past two years. From January to September, we received 244 notifications, up by 43.5% year on year; 247 cases were initiated, up by 49.7%; 236 cases have been closed, up by 42.2%. Most of them are still from the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 60% of all the cases closed.

21st Century Business News: First, please share with us more information on the Reply to SIP’s Master Plan of the Comprehensive Pilot Program for Opening-up and Innovation recently released by the State Council. Second, the WTO has once again lowered global trade forecast to 2.8%. Asia is one of the regions with the largest downward adjustment. Some argue this is largely caused by slowing export and import in China. How does MOFCOM comment on that? The IMF has also made downward adjustment to its global economic growth forecast. What impact will a slowing global recovery have on China’s foreign trade this year?

Shen Danyang: On your first question. The State Council recently issued the Reply to SIP’s Master Plan of the Comprehensive Pilot Program for Opening-up and Innovation, which approved the Master Plan in principle. Suzhou Industrial Park will thus become the first comprehensive pilot area for opening-up and innovation.

Suzhou Industrial Park is the flagship inter-governmental project between China and Singapore. Over the past 20 plus years, with the concerted efforts of the two sides, the SIP has become an important window for China’s opening-up and a successful model of mutually beneficial economic and technical cooperation. It has been selected as the pilot area because it has a good basis and mature conditions and mechanisms for achieving early results.

You may ask what the “Comprehensive Pilot Program for Opening-up and Innovation” is going to experiment on? According to the Reply of the State Council, under the comprehensive pilot program, the SIP will try out new practices centering on the following three goals. First, create an upgraded version of development zones in China, which means SIP will explore three “integrations” --- between opening-up and innovation, innovation and industries, and industries and the city. This will play an exemplary role for the transformation, upgrading and innovation-driven development of national development zones. Second, build a world-class hi-tech industrial park. This means SIP will create an innovation-driven development model for the future, establish an international, open innovation system, and speed up efforts to attract innovation resources, services and talents so as to be well-placed in the international competition on innovation. Third, enhance international cooperation. SIP will, relying on its advantages as a collaborative project between China and Singapore, explore different ways of cooperation, between cities, provinces and at the international level, share its experience as an industrial park and play an active role in implementing major national strategies.

On the second question. Since the end of last year, the WTO has made several adjustments to its forecast of global trade growth, both at the beginning of the year and recently. It has lowered its forecast, but we cannot draw the conclusion that this is caused or primarily caused by the deceleration in China’s foreign trade. Developed and developing countries alike are registering considerable decline in foreign trade, which is closely related to the sluggish recovery of the world economy. Against this backdrop, China has done relatively well in exports and seen a rise in its share of global export, from 12.4% at the end of last year to around 13%. As you mentioned, some international organizations have also lowered their forecast for global economic growth. China’s GDP expanded by a modest 6.9% in Q3, but it is still one of the best performers amongst major economies. So I think the conclusion is not the Chinese economy dragging down world growth, but the other way round. Thank you.

China National Radio: MOFCOM has been promoting the backbone logistics network for agricultural produce, including trials in the construction of non-profit wholesale markets and cross-regional logistics infrastructure. Can you tell us what progress has been made so far? Have these pilot projects delivered expected results?

Shen Danyang: The trials you mentioned are progressing smoothly, yielding good outcomes. We are building the backbone logistics network, non-profit wholesale markets and cross-regional logistics infrastructure to enhance our capability of macro-regulation as well as improve people’s livelihood. On the one hand, we want to help farmers sell their products and increase income; and on the other, we want to ensure consumers have easy and affordable access to agricultural goods. Together with the Ministry of Finance, MOFCOM launched pilot projects in 28 provinces/regions last year, which will continue into this year. By purchasing equities and setting up agricultural logistics development fund, the government could channel more private investment into the construction of the non-profit wholesale markets and cross-regional cold chain facilities.

The trials have generated good results, at least in the following three areas. First, encourage private investment into the sector. MOFCOM and the Ministry of Finance allocated RMB 5 billion yuan for the projects, which has in turn attracted RMB 15 billion yuan of investment from the private sector. Second, create new ways of investment and financing. Compared with the traditional model of supporting the development of agricultural produce market through “rewards”, the current model is to buy up equities with the allocated funding, which will help put in place long-term mechanisms for sustained development. Third, let local governments take the initiative in the pilot projects. For example, pilot areas like Shanghai and Ningxia have extended the wholesale markets to retailing, promoting the development of non-profit retail networks.

This concludes the press conference today. Thank you.