Presidency of People Republic of China : 2019/01/02 China to upgrade bonded zones

China will introduce measures to upgrade its comprehensive bonded zones in line with advanced international standards to promote trade and investment facilitation, maintain steady growth in foreign trade and investment, and nurture new competitive advantages, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Jan 2.

The Chinese government places great importance on the development of comprehensive bonded zones and other forms of special customs supervision areas. President Xi Jinping stressed on several occasions the importance of developing a higher-level open economy, expanding foreign trade, cultivating new trade models and forms, and improving the regional layout of opening-up. Premier Li Keqiang repeatedly called for efforts to expand and upgrade opening-up, substantively enhance trade facilitation and improve the business climate for overseas investors.

In the first three quarters of 2018, imports and exports in China's special customs supervision areas, comprehensive bonded zones included, reached 3.67 trillion yuan, up by 11.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 16.5 percent of the country's total foreign trade in the same period. These special areas have attracted investment from many leading global manufacturers and created over 2 million jobs.

'The comprehensive bonded zones have served as a window in China's opening-up. Their special and important role in sustaining the steady growth of foreign trade and investment must be fully harnessed. We should also encourage these zones to actively expand the domestic market,' Premier Li said.

The meeting decided on a number of supportive measures for these zones.