Dear friends from the press,

Good morning, welcome to the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). First of all, I have five pieces of information for you.

[Gao Feng]: I. About the Report on the Business Index of China's Convenience Stores (the "Report") in the second quarter of 2017

Today, the MOFCOM has released the Report on the Business Index of China's Convenience Stores in the second quarter of 2017.

According to the Report, in the second quarter of 2017, the overall business index of China's convenience stores was 73.95, 1.7 higher than that in the first quarter, reflecting that practitioners still keep strong confidence in the development trend of convenience stores. Specifically, the industry-related business index was 82.5, 1.4 higher than that in the first quarter, reflecting that regulators of the convenience store industry are optimistic about the development prospect; the business index of stores was 68.3, 2.0 higher than that in the first quarter, reflecting that operators of stores at the grass-roots level have more optimistic and stable confidence.

The Report indicates that as regard to the sales growth of the whole industry, sales growth of enterprises, growth of stores, number of practitioners, profit from primary business, business environment and other aspects, regulators of the convenience store industry maintain a higher confidence index, including the confidence index of 96.2 for sales growth of enterprises, which still remains the highest in all sub-indexes, reflecting the confidence in the stable development of enterprises in this year. Store operators maintain a higher confidence in the sales growth of stores, the number of customers, the category of commodities, services, operating profit and other aspects, however, there still are concerns about problems such as store rental costs, charges for water and electricity and expenses of labors.

In general, based on the overall steady growth trend in 2016 and the industry development in 2017, plus capital investment, rise of unmanned convenience stores and other factors, practitioners of convenience stores are still optimistic about the development prospect with a steady rise of confidence.

For specific contents of the Report, you may inquire the official website of the MOFCOM.

[Gao Feng]: II. About the special action of Cloud-Sword Alliance

On August 1, the Office of the National Leading Group on the Fight against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting held a promotion meeting on the regional cooperation in fighting against IPR infringement and counterfeiting and Cloud-Sword Alliance action in Hangzhou, aiming at new situations arising from the fight against IPR infringement and counterfeiting, which indicates an important step in innovating the method of law enforcement supervision.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the internet economy, IPR infringement and counterfeiting have showed a trend of online and offline integrated operation, and the characters, namely, systematization of illegal acts, refining of division of production and marketing, informatization of logistics payment and fragmented distribution in regions are becoming more obvious, which constitute new challenges to the traditional law enforcement mode featuring segmented supervision and territorial investigation. Facing these new situations, the Office of the National Leading Group on the Fight against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting has recently issued the Implementation Plan for Cloud-Sword Alliance in 2017 to organize 13 provinces (districts and cites) in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pan-Pearl River Delta region to jointly carry out the special action of fight against IPR infringement and counterfeiting, and make special deployments with respect to strengthening the coordination and interaction among regions, the cooperation in law enforcement among departments and the cooperation between the government and enterprises. We will focus on the following three aspects of work:

Firstly, accelerate the establishment of the joint conference system among regions and working mechanisms for clue notification, evidence transfer, assistant investigation into cases and joint handling of cases, enhance the joint force of work among regions, and fight against the whole chain of production, supply and marketing of infringing and counterfeit commodities. Secondly, perfect the cooperation mechanism between the regulatory authority and large-scale e-commerce companies, make full use of e-commerce-related big data resources, screen, integrate and analyze the information on online trading, and improve abilities to find, discriminate and precisely crack down on IPR infringement and counterfeiting. Thirdly, promote the experience in regional cooperation in fighting against IPR infringement and counterfeiting nationwide, deepen the cooperation among Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, propel provinces (districts and cities) along "the Belt and Road" to strengthen cooperation, achieve the full coverage of regional cooperation in fighting against IPR infringement and counterfeiting in order to prevent criminals from working in unfixed places with the regulatory authority, and resolutely fight against illegal acts of the persons who make and sell fakes.

[Gao Feng]: III. About the guarantee for market supply during the binary typhoon landing in Fujian

In this year, the No.9 typhoon of "Nesat" landed in the coastal region of Fuqing, Fujian (the maximum wind near the center reached level 12) at 6:00 a.m. on July 30, and the No.10 typhoon of "Haitang" landed in the coastal region of Fuqing (the maximum wind near the center reached level 8) at 2:50 a.m. on July 31. Under the influence of the above two typhoons landing successively, rainstorm occurred in most parts of Fujian, and heavy rainstorm in local areas.

In accordance with the unified arrangement of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the MOFCOM took prompt actions to effectively withstand against typhoons, prevent or control floods and guarantee market supply: to begin with, strengthen organization and leadership to ensure that the market supply of daily necessities and refined oil products will not be sold out when disasters occur. Then, pay close attention to the deployment and arrangement, seize the emphasis on the disaster which may arises from the typhoons, especially the guarantee for the daily necessities and emergency material dispatching, and strive to achieve accurate defense and to effectively guarantee the needs of the people's livelihood. Thirdly, take effective measures, pay special attention to the safety protection of business enterprises, farmers' markets, warehousing and logistics facilities and gas stations, and find and eliminate hidden dangers in a timely manner. Lastly, effectively conduct the monitoring and early warning, strengthen the monitoring of the market operation in all regions, and promptly understand and grasp the information on market supply and dynamic conditions of market operations. As far as we know, at present, the market supply of daily necessities in the disaster-affected area is ample, and prices of grain and oil, meat and eggs are generally stable, and vegetable prices have risen slightly. On August 1, the average wholesale price of vegetables in the wholesale markets closely monitored in Fujian increased by 3.3% compared with that on July 29. The market supply in Fujian is basically stable without any significant price fluctuation.

[Gao Feng]: IV. About replicating and scaling up the experience from the pilot comprehensive reform and development of the domestic trade circulation system

Since August 2015, the MOFCOM, in conjunction with the departments concerned, has instructed 9 cities, namely, Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen, Qingdao, Huangshi and Yiwu, to carry out the pilot comprehensive reform and development of the domestic trade circulation system. At present, the one-year pilot work has been completed successfully, with the expected results achieved and 37 replicable and scalable experience and patterns formed.

On July 25, the MOFCOM and other 8 departments jointly issued the Circular on Replicating and Scaling up the Experience from the Pilot Comprehensive Reform and Development of the Domestic Trade Circulation System to scale up 37 experience across the nation. These experience cover the main aspects of China's circulation reform and development, such as the innovation in the development mechanism, the construction of the business environment, infrastructure construction and reform of the management system, and the problems involved are universal and representative. For example, in terms of the innovation in the development mechanism, Shanghai explores promoting the transformation and upgrading of the entity commerce through the construction of the wisdom business circle, and promotes the transformation and upgrading of the entity commerce toward all-channel, whole-category and full-time operation through introducing intelligent traffic guidance, business circle APP, big data analysis and other means; for the construction of the business environment, Qingdao has formulated the first local comprehensive regulations on circulation in the country, which clarify the power and responsibility of the government with respect to the commodity circulation, authorize the power to formulate regulations and improve the level of legalization and standardization of industry management; in the aspect of the infrastructure construction, Nanjing has explored out the construction and operation mechanism for the public-benefit wholesale market of agricultural products featuring "government holding, enterprise operation, stable price and guarantee for the supply", established the direct-purchase and direct-supply network, and carried out the fresh chain distribution, so as to provide convenience for and benefit the people; in terms of the reform of the management system, Huangshi explores the establishment of a large-department system for circulation management, implements one-stop and one-package-service administrative examination and approval process of circulation, and further improves the working mechanism of circulation management.

These experience are formed based on the development status and characteristics of pilot cities, through independent reform and innovation and in compliance with practices and patterns of local realities. Other cities may selectively replicate and draw lessons from these experience according to specific circumstances, and on this basis, conduct system and institutional innovation, promote the comprehensive deepening of the reform of the domestic trade circulation system, and build a business environment ruled by law. This Circular issued clarifies the content of the pilot experience, and puts forward the requirements for replication and popularization. The MOFCOM will, in conjunction with the departments concerned, strengthen guidance and promote the effective replication and promotion in all regions.

[Gao Feng]: V. About the Sino-African economic and trade cooperation in the first half of 2017

In the first half of 2017, signs of the recovery of Africa's economy are obvious. The U.N. Economic Commission for Africa predicts that in 2017, Africa's economy will grow by 3.2%, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year. Meanwhile, China and Africa speed up the promotion of the "Ten Cooperation Plans"; policy funds and bonuses are continued to be released; governments frequently exchange visits with respect to the economy and trade; key economic and trade cooperation projects continue to be promoted; new growth drivers are gathered for and new development is achieved in Sino-African trade and investment cooperation. In the first half of 2017, Sino-African economic and trade cooperation mainly present the following three highlights:

Firstly, the trade picks up, and the investment goes up. With respect to the trade, in the first half of this year, the trade volume between China and Africa is USD 85.3 billion, showing the year-on-year growth of 19%, and reversing the negative growth trend since 2015. Specifically, imports grow by 46% to USD 38.4 billion, and exports grow by 3% to USD 47 billion. The trade volume between China and its top three trade partners in Africa (South Africa, Angola and Nigeria) respectively increase by 28%, 67% and 22%. In connection with the investment, in the first half of this year, the non-financial direct investment flow to Africa from Chinese enterprises is USD 1.6 billion, indicating an increase of 22% than the last year, in which, the investment in Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, Djibouti and other counties exceeds USD 0.1 billion.

Secondly, the structure of imports and exports is further optimized. For the import, the import volume and price of energy and mineral products go up, and the import amount of mechanical and electrical products, chemical products and agricultural products respectively increase by 22%, 3.5% and 5%, in which, the import amount of fruits and coffee increases greatly by 151% and 77% respectively. Regarding the export, China maintains different growth rates with respect to the export of mechanical and electrical products, textile products and electronic and technical products, in which, the export of transportation means to Africa from China becomes a new highlight, and the export of ships, locomotive and vehicle and aerospace equipment respectively increases by 200%, 161% and 252%.

Thirdly, key projects are steadily and continuously promoted. The Mombasa-Nairobi railway which was fully completed and put into service in May is an international trunk railway built by adopting standards, technology, equipment manufacturing and management experience of China; the uranium mine developed by Chinese enterprises in Namibia produces the first bucket of uranium and will be the second largest uranium mine in process in the world; the Adama equipment manufacturing industrial park, which is jointly established by Hunan and Ethiopia, is ready for construction, and covers an area of 1.22 square kilometers. A batch of domestic leading enterprises are planning to invest in such industrial park.

2017 is a key year for the implementation of the Sino-African "Ten Cooperation Plans". The MOFCOM will continue to focus on the implementation of the "Ten Cooperation Plans", and effectively carry out Sino-African economic and trade, and promote the Sino-African economic and trade cooperation with more and greater achievements, so as to achieve new development, new breakthroughs and new improvements.

That's all for the information. Now please ask your questions.

Global Times: In the first half of this year, the value of merger transactions by US companies in China dropped to the lowest since 2014. Some foreign press reports said it was because of the strained trade relations between China and the US as well as the uncertainties about China's regulation. What is MOFCOM's comment?

Gao Feng: Thank you for your question. I don't know much about the foreign media reports you just mentioned. According to MOFCOM's statistics, the actual merger investment denominated in RMB in China by the US companies registered growth every year but in 2015. From January to June, the actual investment through M&A made by American businesses grew by 2.3% year on year.

The Chinese government has always encouraged foreign investors to make investment in China through M&A. We have recently further simplified regulation procedures for merger and acquisition deals. On June 28, the NDRC and MOFCOM issued the 2017 version of the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries, which clarified that the requirement for review and approval for setting up and making significant adjustments to foreign enterprises not restricted by special administrative measures was replaced by a filing process, with the exception of a related merger and acquisitions. On July 30, MOFCOM released the Decision on Revising the Interim Measures on Replacing Requirement for Review and Approval for Setting Up and Making Adjustments to Foreign Invested Enterprises with Filing Process, establishing the filing procedures for related matters. Investors from around the world, including the US, are welcome to invest in China through merger and acquisitions. Thank you.

MASTV: The Foreign Minister of Turkey is paying an official visit to China. Could you please brief us on the trade and economic cooperation between China and Turkey, particularly Chinese investment in Turkey against the backdrop of the Belt and Road initiative?

Gao Feng: Thank you for your question. Turkey is an important trading partner of China in West Asia. Over the last few years, driven by the Belt and Road initiative, China-Turkey trade and economic cooperation has continued to make positive progress.

In 2016, our bilateral trade approached 20 billion dollars. China became Turkey's second largest trading partner and the largest source of imports. From January to June this year, the bilateral trade amounted to 10.38 billion dollars with a year-on-year growth rate of 4.2%. Chinese investment in Turkey and business cooperation on infrastructure are new bright spots in the bilateral trade and economic cooperation. By the end of June, Chinese investment stock in Turkey had reached 1.4 billion dollars, Chinese enterprises signed 18.6 billion dollars of project contracts in Turkey and reaped 13.2 billion dollars of turnover. The second phase of Ankara-Istanbul high speed railway project undertaken by the Chinese enterprises and the merger transaction of Kumport in Istanbul have become landmark projects in the commercial cooperation between China and Turkey.

China attaches great importance to the trade and economic cooperation with Turkey and stands ready to encourage Chinese enterprises to make investment and do business in Turkey in the principle of equity, reciprocity and win-win results and conduct various investment cooperation with Turkey. We hope the two sides will continue to work hard in a practical and open spirit, follow through the consensus reached between the leaders and continue to create a favorable environment and provide a new driving force for bilateral business cooperation with a view to achieving win-win results and common development.

Economic Information Daily: We have noted that in the first half of this year, the trade modes of cross-border e-commerce and market purchasing grew at a breathtaking speed. Could you give more information in this regard? Do these new growth areas have a bearing on the recovery of China's foreign trade? Thank you.

Gao Feng: Thank you for your question. With regard to cross-border e-commerce, the preliminary statistics of the current 13 comprehensive pilot zones show that the total imports and exports exceeded 100 billion yuan, more than doubling year on year. Among these, B2B accounted for 60%, indicating the cross-border e-commerce trade has become a new growth area in China's foreign trade. The comprehensive experimental zones have put in place relevant policy frameworks centering on six systems of information sharing, financial services, smart logistics, e-commerce credit, statistics and monitoring as well as risk prevention and control, and two platforms consisting of an online comprehensive services platform and an offline comprehensive zone. The institutional innovation has given a boost to the industrial transformation and upgrading and created new channels for mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

According to Chinese Customs, from January to June this year, the export of the eight experimental zones for market purchase reached 121.05 billion yuan with a year-on-year growth of 27.8%, driving fast growth in the local export trade. The eight pilot zones saw a big rise in importers and exporters, an increasing extroversion of market and a higher level of international cooperation. The pilot program has proved to be successful. It shows that the new foreign trade modes are playing a positive role in promoting continued stable growth in foreign trade, nurturing new growth areas and in particular advancing supply side structural reform in foreign trade.

Going forward, MOFCOM will work with relevant ministries, stick to the principle of balanced development and regulation and address problems to step up innovation in institutions, regulations and services so as to improve policies that suit the development of new trade modes and create a more enabling environment for growing new business modes. In doing so, these new modes will provide support for achieving the goal of maintaining stable growth of foreign trade and help transform China from a trader of quantity to a trader of quality. Thank you.

Due to time constraints, it will be the last question.

CCTV: It was reported by American media that the US administration would use Section 301 to take actions against China, focusing on piracy, intellectual protection and unfair trade. What are China's response and comment? Thank you.

Gao Feng: Thank you for your question. We have taken note of relevant news reports. I want to emphasize that the Chinese government has always set great store by IP protection and made achievements that are for all to see. Any trade measures to be taken by WTO members must conform to WTO rules.

We always believe that the trade and economic relations are the ballast and propeller of the Sino-US relations. Given their interwoven interests, China and the US will enjoy mutual benefits when they pull in the same direction. Otherwise, no one will emerge as the winner. The important consensus built at the two summits in Mar-a-Largo and Hamburg by President Xi and President Trump has charted the course for the development of the bilateral relations. We will work with the US side in the spirit of cooperation to push the bilateral commercial relations forward.

Over the last three months, under the joint efforts by China and the US, the 100-day plan has made major progress. The first China-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue was held, charting the course for the bilateral economic cooperation. The two sides will push forward the bilateral trade and economic relation in the basic principle of win-win cooperation, resolve differences through dialogues and consultations and focus on major economic policies coordination in dialogues. We have made headway towards a one-year plan for economic cooperation. The working teams from both sides are putting untiring efforts to achieve early harvests. We hope to keep the strong momentum going.

Though the world economy is recovering, uncertainties and destabilizing factors still abound. The impressive performance of China's economy in the first half of this year played as a major driving force for global economic recovery. We are willing to see the world's two largest economies and trading nations join efforts to push for sound development of China-US commercial relations and inject new impetus into recovery of the global economy. Thank you.

This concludes today's press conference. Thank you all.