A conference marking the establishment of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Think Tank, and also a symposium for China's RCEP Service Centers, were held in Xi'an recently. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) granted the nameplate of "CCPIT FTA (Xiangtan) Service Center" to the CCPIT Xiangtan Branch. Thus, Hunan's first local FTA service center has been set up.

In 2022, there were 362 enterprises in Xiangtan City, with a total import and export value of 34.963 billion CNY, of which 27.062 billion CNY was for export. The average growth rate of Xiangtan's import and export volume in the past five years reached 19%, making the city one of the "China's Top 100 Cities in Foreign Trade" for six consecutive years.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has officially entered into force on January 1 last year. In order to seize the opportunity, the CPC Xiangtan Municipal Committee and Xiangtan Municipal People's Government rolled out an Action Plan for the Implementation of RCEP during the 2022-2025 period. The plan aimed to deepen the economic and trade cooperation between Xiangtan and RCEP member countries through policy guidance and substantial financial support.

The CCPIT Xiangtan Branch will take this opportunity to enhance the study, promotion, and implementation of FTA, and strengthen communication and trainings to improve Xiangtan enterprises' understanding and application of FTA, said a person in charge of the branch. It will constantly help Xiangtan enterprises enjoy the dividends delivered by RCEP and other FTA related policies, and strive to make greater contributions to Xiangtan's high-quality development of open economy.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn