At a press conference held on the 19th, Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said that RCEP will help foster a fair, transparent, stable and predictable policy environment for Chinese foreign trade companies and other relevant enterprises. As RCEP parties exercise tariff concessions, unblock market access, remove barriers to trade, and streamline customs procedures, trade costs within the RCEP region will be further lowered, and trade facilitation advanced, further boosting regional trade and investment growth.

Gao Feng said, For China, RCEP will diversify and optimize our import structure, unleash import potential, and increase the import of advanced technologies, equipment and components, as well as resource commodities with a strong domestic demand. In the meantime, it will help stabilize China’s export to other countries in the region. Besides, RCEP will help enterprises better operating in the region and allocating factors and resources, which will make regional industrial and supply chains more resilient.

 

In response to a reporter from the Economic Daily on “What supportive measures will MOFCOM introduce to lower the cost of division of labor for enterprises along the international industrial chain?”, Gao Feng said, for enterprises, RCEP itself if a preferential policy. We will work with relevant authorities to complete the ratification process expeditiously and work together with other contracting parties to bring it into effect as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we will better explain and enhance people’s awareness of RCEP, so that Chinese enterprises will have a deeper understanding of it, make more effective use of relevant preferential terms, which will make our businesses and consumers benefit more from it.