10/04/2020
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will promote the sales of export products in domestic markets, as foreign trade faces unprecedented challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, an assistant commerce minister said on Friday.
As the coronavirus spreads to almost all of China’s trading partners, the world’s second-largest economy is set to reach a grim milestone for full year growth, with the pace of expansion likely to be the slowest since the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. And, the export sector is facing millions of job losses and factory shutdowns.
“Due to the rapid spread of the epidemic in the world, foreign demand has slumped and the biggest difficulty facing foreign trade companies is the plunge in orders,” said Ren Hongbin, the assistant minister at the Ministry of Commerce.
He said firms across the board have had their orders cancelled or delayed, and new orders are “very hard to sign”.
“The uncertainty about the pandemic has become the biggest uncertainty for foreign trade development.”
Forecasters expect China’s 2020 growth could be nearer the 2.0% mark – the slowest in over 40 years – due to the sweeping impact of the pandemic both at home and overseas. The economy grew 6.1% last year.
China’s overseas shipments fell 17.2% in January-February from the same period a year earlier, marking the steepest fall since February 2019. Imports sank 4% from a year earlier.
Among the government measures to support the sector, China is accelerating efforts to build online trade fairs and guiding exporters to work with e-commerce retailers for sales in domestic markets and coordinating with its trading partners to stabilise supply chains, said Ren.
The Canton Fair, China’s oldest and biggest trade fair due to take place online, will feature live-streaming services for participants, Li Xingqian, another commerce ministry official, told the same briefing. The fair was originally scheduled to begin on April 15, but was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
China is willing to boost trade relations with other countries, including the United States, under the new circumstances, said Ren, adding that Beijing hopes to work together with Washington to promote bilateral trade.
Both countries have been engaged in a near two-year long trade war with tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s goods, before negotiators called a truce with an interim trade deal in January.
Source: Reuters
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21/09/2019
BAKU, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) — China and Azerbaijan enjoy promising prospects in co-building the Belt and Road, Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Guo Min said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.
With a sound and steady development of bilateral relations, Guo praised the advantages of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for both sides, emphasizing Azerbaijan’s full support for and involvement in the construction of the Belt and Road.
She said Azerbaijan sees the development of relationship with China as a diplomatic priority. “China and Azerbaijan have exchanged frequent high-level visits since the beginning of this year, with mutual political trust deepening even further.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing in April, said Guo, adding “the leaders of the two countries reached important consensus to further develop bilateral relations and practical cooperation in various fields.”
“Cooperation in trade, energy, transportation, humanities and other fields has yielded fruits,” she said, noting bilateral trade reached 1.5 billion U.S. dollars from January to August, an increase of 104 percent from the same period last year.
“In recent years, the two nations have been promoting cooperation in a number of areas, including education, culture, health, sports and tourism on a continuous basis,” said the ambassador.
The two countries “have exchanged the visits of culture and art figures and held a wide range of film festivals, art exhibitions and other activities to actively promote unity, mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between the people,” according to Guo.
“At the next stage, the two nations should capitalize on the existing potential and focus on more points of interest,” the ambassador said.
She described the deep traditional friendship, high-level mutual political trust and the highly complementary practical cooperation as key foundations and effective guarantees for the stability and improvement of bilateral relations.
“China is willing to work together with Azerbaijan to push Sino-Azerbaijani friendship and cooperation to a new level and benefit the two countries and their peoples,” the ambassador added.
Source: Xinhua
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28/08/2019
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks Tuesday with visiting Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, and the two sides agreed to cement cooperation.
Li said China attaches great importance to China-Uzbekistan relations and is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Uzbekistan, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and strengthen communication and coordination in international and regional affairs.
Li said China is ready to seek synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Uzbekistan’s development strategy, deepen cooperation in production capacity, interconnection and agriculture, and make efforts to ensure the stability of energy cooperation.
He expected the two sides to promote cooperation in culture, tourism and higher education, so as to consolidate the people-to-people foundation of bilateral ties.
China is willing to continue to expand the scale of bilateral trade, import Uzbek products that meet the needs of the Chinese market, and support capable Chinese companies investing in Uzbekistan in accordance with market rules, Li said, hoping Uzbekistan will create a good business environment.
Aripov said Uzbekistan is ready to continue to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen cooperation in various fields, and welcome Chinese enterprises to expand investment in Uzbekistan, so as to push bilateral relations to a higher level.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents after the talks.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Abdulla Aripov, Belt and Road Initiative, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), bilateral trade, China-Uzbekistan relations, Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Culture, higher education, Import, promote cooperation, Tourism, Uncategorized, Uzbek Prime Minister, Uzbek products, Uzbekistan |
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27/04/2019
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is here attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is here attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
Li said China is willing to enhance high-level contacts with Vietnam, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and better align the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan.
China is willing to expand bilateral trade and achieve balanced and sustainable development in trade with Vietnam, and welcomes the entry of quality Vietnamese products into the Chinese market, Li said.
China supports Vietnam in assuming its role as the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2020, and is willing to work with Vietnam and other parties to steadily advance the consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, the premier said.
Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Vietnam actively supports the BRI and is willing to build greater synergy of the two countries’ development strategies.
Vietnam is willing to work with China in implementing the high-level consensus and safeguarding the long-term stability in the South China Sea, he said.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle", Association of Southeast Asian Nations, balanced and sustainable development, Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), bilateral trade, China alert, Chinese market, Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Code of Conduct (COC), Nguyen Xuan Phuc, South China Sea, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vietnamese Prime Minister |
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14/03/2019
NANNING, March 13 (Xinhua) — Total volume of trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries hit a record high of 587.87 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 14.1 percent year on year, an official with the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.
China-ASEAN trade maintained a strong upward momentum last year, with two-way investments amounting to 205.71 billion U.S. dollars, said Yang Weiqun, deputy head of the Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Commerce.
The mutual investment stock has grown 22 times since 2004, Yang added when attending a senior officials meeting for the 16th China-ASEAN Expo, which is scheduled to be held from Sept. 20 to 23 in Nanning, capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The theme of this year’s expo is “Building the Belt & Road, Realizing Our Vision for A Community of Shared Future,” with Indonesia as the Country of Honor.
Yang said China hopes to take this chance to strengthen communication and cooperation with ASEAN countries.
Gustanto, Consul General of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Guangzhou, said the expo has made positive contributions to bilateral trade between Indonesia and China.
As the Country of Honor, Indonesia plans to bring more exhibitors and deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation, he said.
Initiated in 2004, the expo is an important platform to promote trade and relations between China and the ASEAN.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Belt & Road, bilateral trade, China alert, China-ASEAN, consul general, Consulate General, Country of Honor, deputy head of the Department of Asian Affairs, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Gustanto, Indonesia, Ministry of Commerce, Nanning, Republic of Indonesia, Uncategorized, Yang Weiqun |
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