By Audrey Guo

“The year of 2022 marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT）， and it was also a milestone in the development history of trade promotion. Under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC） with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core， the national trade promotion system faced up to difficulties， forged ahead， carried out a series of reform and innovative measures， and completed a number of major events that have long-term historical significance， creating a number of ‘firsts， and greatly improving the status and role of trade promotion in the overall work of the CPC and the country，” CCPIT Chairman Ren Hongbin said at the CCPIT Working Meeting 2023 held recently.

Various efforts to stabilize foreign investment and foreign trade are working effectively

It is reported that last year the national trade promotion system collected more than 6，000 requests from foreign-funded enterprises， of which more than 4，000 have been responded to in a timely manner and solved. More than 1，600 seminars and dialogues were held， helping optimize the business environment， secure normal production and operation of foreign-funded enterprises in China， and promote confidence in foreign trade and foreign investment. For example， the CCPIT Guangdong Committee held overseas investment promotion events for Guangdong， Hong Kong， Macao and the Greater Bay Area， while other CCPIT committees in Guangxi， Jinan， Qingdao， Wuhan and other cities took initiatives in promoting the integration of exhibition and production. The CCPIT Anhui Committee organized a trip for wellknown enterprises to move to Anhui， the Guangzhou Committee tried to develop Nansha， a new attractive place for foreign investors， and the Tibet Committee took opportunities in the exhibition to promote investment.

Chairman of the CCPIT Hebei Committee， Liu Jinsong， said， under the coordination of the CCPIT special working group for foreign investment， the CCPIT Hebei Committee insisted on going to the frontline of production， to strengthen the effect of the working groups and help stabilize the fundamental trend in foreign trade and foreign investment sector in the past year. It made detailed records for foreign-funded enterprises in Hebei Province by country and industry， collected their demands through various channels such as hotlines， direct reporting platforms and questionnaires， and implemented dynamic checklist management. Up to now， Hebei Committee has resolved 3 of the 4 requests transferred from the national special working group， and 133 of 189 requests collected via provincial and municipal groups， resulting in a resolution rate above 70%， and giving enterprises real considerate services.

In 2022， the CCPIT Sichuan Committee， together with special working groups at all levels， built a database of nearly 1，000 key foreign-funded enterprises， held 61 seminars and dialogues between government and enterprises， visited 454 foreign-funded enterprises and institutions， and collected 334 requests onsite， forming a closed-loop operation of “enterprises putting up， the special working groups assigning， local branches taking requests， and evaluating the results in return visits.”From January to November 2022， Sichuan realized foreign direct investment （FDI） of USD 3.28 billion， up 22.3% year-on-year. Huang Li， Chairperson and secretary of the Leading Party Members Group of the CCPIT Sichuan Committee， noted， “Many business associations and enterprises have spoken highly of the establishment of the special working groups， as a major initiative of the Chinese government to support the development of foreign-funded enterprises， which strengthens the confidence of enterprises in the long-term development of Sichuan.”

According to Gu Chunting， Vice Chairman and member of the Leading Party Members Group of the CCPIT Shanghai Committee， in accordance with the requirements of the national trade promotion system of “coordinate efforts all over the country as on a single chessboard，” the Shanghai Committee formed a special working group for foreign-funded enterprises at the first time after the resumption of production in Shanghai last year， and actively established a bottom-up， convenient and direct mechanism， providing foreign-funded enterprises new channels and more opportunities to express their demands and relieve their difficulties. By December 31， 2022， the Shanghai special working group had received 479 requests from 210 enterprises， and the overall resolution rate was nearly 60%.

Vice Chairman and Member of the Leading Party Members Group of CCPIT Zhejiang Committee， Ying Guohua， said that Zhejiang has built an international trade and economic information service platform， which provides foreign trade enterprises with timely and accurate international trade and economic information all year round. The WeChat official account of “CCPIT Zhejiang” gained 196，000 users， basically covering all foreign trade and economic enterprises in the province. The CCPIT Zhejiang Committee aims to combine online and offline activities， and organizes more than 100 exhibition events every year， serving more than 5，000 enterprises. The special working group in Zhejiang built a reporting platform for foreign-funded enterprise to express their demands and to stabilize foreign investment.

According to Ren Hongbin， multiple efforts are needed to secure stable and even better foreign trade performance， and to comprehensively promote the effectiveness of the special working groups in serving foreign-funded enterprises. The special working groups for foreign investment should turn the focus from collecting requests to carrying out in-depth research， from tracking and resolving problems to improving the business environment， from serving foreign enterprises to helping with foreign investment attraction and utilization.

Strengthening the function of trade promotion， and taking more efforts to help enterprises develop overseas markets

In 2022， the CCPIT successfully held a number of major economic and trade events and accomplished new achievements in serving the overall situation of foreign trade and diplomacy， including the Silk Road International Expo， Listed Companies to Build the Belt and Road International Cooperation Forum， China-Kazakhstan Entrepreneurs Forum， and China-Central and Eastern European Countries Business Association Business Cooperation Conference， as well as online activities including the China-Russia Business Council Entrepreneurs Forum and China-Pakistan Business Forum. After the pandemic， the CCPIT organized a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs and successfully visited many countries such as El Salvador， Ecuador， the Czech Republic， Poland， Croatia， the United States， the United Kingdom， France and more.

The CCPIT Hebei Committee organized China （Hebei） International Ice and Snow Industry Development Conference before the construction of the Ice and Snow Silk Road， the CCPIT Committees in Guangxi， Hunan， Shaanxi provinces are developing the New Western Landsea Corridor together， the Jiangsu Committee promotes construction of the new Asia-Europe Land-Sea Intermodal Transportation Channel， the Shanghai Committee established the Belt and Road comprehensive service center， and the CCPIT Committees in Shanxi， Shenzhen and Shenyang organized brands for trips along the Silk Road and other activities.

Liu Jinsong said， the Hebei Committee insists on continuously expanding the circle of friends and the scope of services， while organizing online and offline activities， to deepen practical business relations with business associations in main developed countries and countries along the Belt and Road. By now， CCPIT Hebei Committee has established friendly relations with 199 business associations and organizations in 67 countries and regions， and set up 14 overseas offices， to open up possibilities for domestic enterprises to go abroad and overseas enterprises to come in.

According to Huang Li， the CCPIT Sichuan Committee successfully held brand activities including listed companies to build the Belt and Road International Cooperation Forum， Chengdu Auto Parts Exhibition， China （Chengdu） Smart Industry International Expo， RCEP International Forum and so on. Besides， the Sichuan Committee promotes both internal and external investments， by receiving 79 groups of foreign guests， setting up new representative offices in Kazakhstan （the number of overseas offices， Sichuan goods exhibition and sales centers and other organizations came to 20）； successfully hosting economic and trade exchanges with Belarus， Argentina and Chile， etc.； holding 10 events of compliance risk assessment and training， helping nearly 400 enterprises with their examinations. According to statistics， more than 370 foreign-funded enterprises participated in trade promotion activities and enjoyed services of the trade promotion system in Sichuan last year.

Vice Chairperson and Member of the Leading Party Members Group of the CCPIT Jiangxi Committee， Peng Feng， said that the Jiangxi Committee focused on the inaugural meeting of China Council of Sustainable Markets Initiative in 2022， as well as the founding of Lushan Conference for Global Business Leaders， as the implementation of the important message from General Secretary Xi Jinping. Facing the tight schedule and heavy workload， the strict reporting and approving requirements， changing pandemic situation and other uncertainties， under the strong support and guidance of the CCPIT， the CCPIT Jiangxi Committee insisted on responding to the uncertainties of the conferences with certainty of the preparatory work， and achieved the goal of organizing the conferences “perfectly and innovatively”， closely collaborating with the China Chamber of International Commerce （CCOIC） and the Jiujiang municipal government.

High-level economic and trade exhibitions are helpful to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment. According to Ren Hongbin， the 16th China-Latin America Entrepreneur Summit and the first China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing， the 20th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Guangxi Province， the 14th China-Northeast Asia Expo in Jilin， and the 16th China-South Asia Business Forum in Yunnan Province， will be held this year. Besides， the CCPIT will also pay more attention to organizing enterprises for overseas exhibitions， and accelerate the restart and upgrade of overseas exhibitions affected by the pandemic.

Improving commercial legal services to help enterprises prevent and resolve risks

In 2022， the CCPIT spearheaded a lot of innovation in trade facilitation， such as， issuing visas in various places， and supporting online applications and approval for many commercial certificates including certificates of origin， and Admissions Temporaire Carnet， and achieved significant results. According to statistics， China issued 5，351，000 copies of various types of certificates in 2022， marking an increase of 3.2% year-on-year， and the issued certificates of origin involved an amount of USD 414.23 billion， accounting for 11.5% of Chinas total exports of the same period. The five provinces of Jiangsu， Zhejiang， Guangdong， Shandong， and Sichuan accounted for 70% of preferential certificates of origin in terms of value. There has been a visa agency in all prefecture-level cities in Anhui Province. Chongqing facilitated commercial certification across Chongqing and even Sichuan Province.

While coordinating domestic parties to respond to economic and trade friction， the CCOIC， on behalf of Chinese business community， sent representatives to the United States to participate in the hearing for the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act（UFLPA） and submitted a review of nearly 20，000 words， refuting the unreasonable suppression of the United States. Meanwhile， it also sent officials to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other places， and helped 5，000 local enterprises conduct oneto-one compliance risk screening， and issued reports. The CCPIT Textile Industry Sub-Council tracked the impact on the industry in China， and Shaanxi Committee provided recommended responses in a timely manner. The CCPIT committees in Fujian， Henan and Shenzhen actively helped enterprises cope with the risks of the Section 337 investigation and being enrolled on the U.S. sanction lists. The CCPIT Commercial Sub-Council took the lead in formulating 18 international standards， and strengthened the influence and discourse in international rule-making. The CCPIT Tianjin Committee helped enterprises respond to anti-dumping investigations in India and other countries， and the Anhui Committee properly handled five cases of economic and trade disputes concerning foreign businesses.

The CCPIT continuously improves the diversified dispute settlement mechanism. The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission （CIETAC） accepted 3，540 new cases in 2022， and the amount of money under arbitration exceeded RMB 100 billion for the last five consecutive years， up by 47% and 58% year-on-year respectively. The CIETAC established the Intellectual Property Arbitration Center and launched the China Trade Arbitration platform for APEC Online Dispute Resolution. In 2022， the China Maritime Arbitration Commission （CMAC） made new records in the number of accepted cases and the amount of money in question， which came to 35，800 cases and RMB 23.2 billion， up by 119% and 43% yearon-year respectively. Meanwhile， the CMAC established Northeast Asia International Arbitration Center， and five new mediation centres. The CCPIT Guangxi Committee founded Nanning International Commercial Court in China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone， and the committees in Shanghai and Jiangxi explored new and diversified ways of dispute resolution.

Peng Feng said that together with nearly 20 other departments including Jiangxi provincial high court， commercial and judicial department， the CCPIT Jiangxi Committee， has established four mechanisms in Jiangxi Province for international commercial disputes， risk screening of corporate international operation， corporate compliance pilot and overseas intellectual property disputes， to explore the construction of a provincial onestop and diversified settlement system for international commercial disputes. Through offering legal consultancy and overseas rights protection services for enterprises as a public welfare proj- ect， the Jiangxi Committee provided professional legal guidance to more than 100 enterprises in the province in 2022， covering sale of goods， cargo transportation and payment recovery.

Fang Lixu， Chairperson and Secretary of the Leading Party MembersGroup of the CCPIT Guangdong Committee， said that the trade promotion system in Guangdong continues to make full use of the resources of the national platform， to develop pioneering commercial legal services concerning foreign businesses with Guangdong characteristics. Via the CCPIT， the Guangdong Committee actively links to domestic and overseas legal databases on national platforms， to enrich and expand legal services. Together with the provincial government， the Guangdong Committee promoted the interconnection between platforms of the CCPITs ctils.com（cross-border trade and investment legal services） and the provincial governments Guangdong Business Link， to create a one-stop mobile service platform covering 14 million commercial entities in the province.

2023 is the first year that the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress will be comprehensively implemented. According to Ren Hongbin， the CCPIT should do a good job in promoting trade， establishing and tightening global partnerships， continuously expanding international influence， and maintaining a diversified and stable international economic pattern and trade relations， to secure greater effectiveness of the special working group for foreign-funded enterprises. The CCPIT should take multiple efforts to stabilize and improve foreign trade， strengthen the ability of trade promotion， improve industrial services， and better support enterprises to develop overseas markets， including organizing more enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions， accelerating the restart and upgrade of overseas exhibitions affected by the pandemic， and focusing on building overseas independent exhibition brands. The CCPIT should further spread awareness of， and popularize， the RCEP and other free trade agreements， and vigorously promote the quality construction of the Belt and Road. The CCPIT should continuously improve the capacity of commercial legal services， extend the service network to cover more regions and industries， and help develop law-based governance in China. The CCPIT should actively participate in the reform and construction of global economic governance system. The CCPIT should also consolidate upper and lower linkages， widely organize and mobilize local enterprises and raise their awareness to participate in the formulation of international economic and trade rules and global economic governance， encouraging more local enterprises to be vocal， actively contribute wisdom and play their roles.