On January 1, 2023, the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). In the past year, under the background of the volatile international situation and the risk of recession of the world economy, China has implemented the RCEP with high quality, and the policy dividend has been continuously released, effectively promoting the deepening of regional economic integration, and injecting more momentum into the growth of regional and global trade and investment.

In 2023, with the further implementation of the opening commitments of the agreement by the RCEP parties, the regional economic and trade potential is expected to be further stimulated and make greater contributions to the global economic and trade recovery.

Rows of steel pipes are cut, cleaned, polished and painted on the production line. In the intelligent production workshop of Zhejiang Jiayi Thermal Insulation Technology Co., Ltd., a number of fully automatic production lines are operating at full power. The thermal insulation cups produced will soon be sold to the Eurasian market. In 2022, the export volume of enterprises will exceed US $100 million.

"At the beginning of 2022, we applied for the first RCEP export certificate of origin in the province, which was a good start for the export of the whole year. We exported thermal insulation cups from Japan, the tax rate was reduced from 3.9% to 3.2%, and enjoyed a tariff reduction of more than 200000 yuan for the whole year." Gu Lili, the foreign trade manager of Zhejiang Jiayi Thermal Insulation Technology Co., Ltd., said that the tax rate was further reduced to 2.8% this year, which made our products more competitive, We are confident to further expand exports.

For enterprises, the direct benefit of the effective implementation of RCEP is reflected in the reduction of trade costs caused by tariff reduction. According to the agreement, more than 90% of the goods trade in the region will eventually achieve zero tariff, and the tax will be reduced to zero immediately and to zero within 10 years, which greatly boosts the willingness of intra-regional trade.

According to the relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Customs, RCEP has officially come into effect and China has established a free trade relationship with Japan for the first time. The export of many products from Zhejiang, such as rice wine, traditional Chinese medicine and thermos cups, to Japan has increased significantly. In 2022, Hangzhou Customs issued a total of 52800 RCEP certificates of origin for 2346 enterprises under its jurisdiction, realizing a tax reduction of about 217 million yuan for import and export goods in Zhejiang Province. In 2022, Zhejiang's import and export to other member countries of RCEP reached 1.17 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.5%, driving the growth of the province's foreign trade by 3.1 percentage points.

For consumers, the entry into force of RCEP not only makes some imported goods more affordable, but also increases consumption options.

At the Friendship Customs Port in Pingxiang, Guangxi, trucks loaded with imported fruits from ASEAN continue to flow. In recent years, more and more fruits from ASEAN countries have been exported to China, which is deeply loved by domestic consumers. Since the entry into force of the RCEP, the trade cooperation of agricultural products among member countries has become closer. Many fruits from ASEAN countries, such as Myanmar bananas, Cambodia longan, Vietnam durian, have been granted quarantine access in China, enriching the table of Chinese consumers.

Yuan Bo, deputy director of the Asian Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the measures such as tariff reduction and trade facilitation covered by the RCEP have brought tangible benefits for enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The member countries of the RCEP have become an important source for Chinese enterprises to expand export markets and import consumer goods, stimulating the potential for intraregional trade cooperation.

According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, in 2022, China's imports and exports to the other 14 member countries of RCEP reached 12.95 trillion yuan, up 7.5%, accounting for 30.8% of China's total foreign trade imports and exports. The growth rate of imports and exports to other member countries of RCEP exceeded double digits reached 8, of which the growth rate of imports and exports to Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos exceeded 20%.

Deepen industrial chain supply chain cooperation

In 2022, China's import and export of intermediate products to other members of RCEP will reach 8.7 trillion yuan

The rule of origin accumulation is a highlight of RCEP. According to this rule, the raw materials of other member countries used by enterprises of RCEP member countries in the production process can be regarded as the raw materials of the region, which can increase the proportion of the original value components, making it easier for the export products among member countries to reach the threshold of enjoying tariff preferences.

"Now our industrial chain supply chain layout is more reasonable, and the trade relationship with Japanese customers is closer." Guangzhou Lvanyi Clothing Co., Ltd. mainly produces all kinds of professional work clothes, and a large part of raw materials are imported from Japan. Shi Guang, the deputy general manager of the company, told the reporter: "According to the RCEP regional value composition standard, using the original materials of the RCEP member countries for production can also be accumulated into the original composition of the goods. Our work clothes meet the origin standard, and can enjoy the RCEP tariff preference."

Experts believe that the economic structure of RCEP members is highly complementary, and the capital, technology and labor factors in the region are complete. Under a series of institutional arrangements such as the rules of origin accumulation, customs procedures and trade facilitation, and the negative list to promote investment liberalization, the market access of goods, services, investment and other fields among member countries has been further relaxed, promoting the free flow of economic factors within the region, and strengthening the cooperation of production and division of labor among members, so that the layout of relevant industries can more flexibly comply with the principle of efficiency, and promoting the reasonable layout of the supply chain of the industrial chain among member countries.

Under the favorable policy of RCEP, industrial cooperation among member countries has been strengthened and direct investment has continued to grow. In 2022, China's import and export of intermediate products to other members of the RCEP reached 8.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5%, accounting for 67.2% of China's total import and export value to other member countries in the same period. In 2022, South Korea and ASEAN's investment in China increased by 64.2% and 8.2% respectively.

It is worth noting that the effective implementation of RCEP has made some industries in China face more fierce market competition from within the region. To this end, China adheres to the high-quality implementation of RCEP and constantly shapes new advantages in international competition and cooperation.

The Ministry of Commerce and other six departments jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on the High-quality Implementation of RCEP to guide enterprises to seize the opportunities of RCEP and participate in regional trade, investment and industrial cooperation through thematic training, online consultation, platform construction and other ways; Local customs continue to optimize customs clearance process, improve customs clearance efficiency and reduce customs clearance costs; The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology supports expanding the export of advantageous industrial products, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and cultivating and developing emerging industries; The trade promotion system has built a RCEP enterprise service platform to provide enterprises with tax rate inquiry, origin qualification pre-judgment, certificate smart second signing and other services.

"Although the RCEP has only been in effect for more than a year, it has brought gratifying changes in promoting trade facilitation, integrating the industrial chain, enhancing the attractiveness of regional development, and promoting the development results to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and the general public." Gu Qingyang, associate professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, believes that China plays an important role in the RCEP, and the stronger growth of China's economy will bring broader development space to the RCEP in the future.

Release the potential of the agreement to a greater extent

The number of effective members among the 15 signatories of the RCEP has reached 14

On January 2, RCEP officially entered into force for Indonesia. Since then, the number of effective members among the 15 signatories of the RCEP has reached 14, the cumulative range of regions of origin has been further expanded, and regional economic integration has developed in depth.

The multilateral trading system and regional trade arrangements are the two "wheels" driving the development of economic globalization. Zhang Shenfeng, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that making full use of the preferential policies of the free trade agreement can greatly improve the market access conditions of enterprises, reduce operating costs, and enhance the international competitiveness of products, services and investment.

According to the survey of CCPIT, over the past year, Chinese enterprises have significantly improved their awareness of using the preferential tax rate of RCEP, and their enthusiasm to actively learn, master and use the rules has significantly increased. However, different enterprises have different awareness of RCEP, and the level of use varies greatly. There is still a lot of work to be done to strengthen the promotion and extensive training.

"This year, the world economy is under great downward pressure, and external uncertainties are increasing. China needs to continue to promote the high-quality implementation of RCEP, deepen regional economic and trade cooperation with other RCEP members, and release the potential economic growth dividend of RCEP to a greater extent." Yuan Bo believes that more enterprises should be guided to take advantage of the resource endowment advantages of RCEP members, make full use of the regional accumulation rules of origin to participate in regional industrial chain supply chain cooperation, expand service trade Cooperation in digital economy, green economy and other fields.

The Ministry of Commerce said that it would continue to work with relevant departments to promote the high-quality implementation of free trade agreements such as RCEP, guide local governments, industries and enterprises to make full use of the agreements, and constantly improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of free trade agreements. At the same time, take RCEP as a new starting point, sign free trade agreements with more trading partners, expand the global network of high-standard free trade zones, further improve the level of openness of trade in goods, trade in services and investment markets, actively participate in the negotiation of new rules and issues such as the digital economy and environmental protection, steadily expand the institutional openness of rules, regulations, management and standards, better serve to build a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development.