The number of applications for subsidies for automobile scrapping and renewal exceeded 450,000

On August 2, the Information Office of the State Council held a series of press conferences on the theme of "Promoting High-quality Development". "Since the beginning of this year, business operation has made steady progress, high-quality development has achieved new results, and positive contributions have been made to the development of the national economy." Li Yizhen, deputy representative of the Ministry of Commerce for international trade negotiations, introduced at the meeting.

Enhance the fundamental role of consumption in economic development

Li introduced that the Ministry of Commerce has made great efforts to enhance the basic role of consumption in economic development, introduced a series of policies such as the trade-in action plan for consumer goods and the promotion of high-quality development of automobile consumption, household consumption and catering industry, and has successively carried out a series of activities such as "Consumption Promotion Year" and "Consumption Promotion Year".

In the first half of the year, consumption maintained steady growth, with the total retail sales of consumer goods reaching 23.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.7 percent; retail sales of services increased by 7.5% year-on-year; Online retail sales increased by 9.8% year-on-year, of which physical goods increased by 8.8%, and online retail accounted for 25.3% of the total retail sales. The retail sales of rural consumption were 3.14 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent, and the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents increased by 7.6 percent.

As of now, the national automobile scrapping and renewal subsidy applications have exceeded 450,000, and in the first half of the year, the amount of automobile scrapping and recycling increased by 27.6% year-on-year, and the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles increased by 33.1%. In terms of household appliances, the retail sales of household appliances of units above designated size increased by 3.1 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year, an increase of 2.1 percentage points over the same period of last year. In terms of home decoration, kitchen and bathroom, the retail sales of furniture of units above designated size increased by 2.6% year-on-year.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, will issue a notice on further doing a good job in the trade-in of cars and household appliances as soon as possible, and introduce the work guidelines for the "renewal" of home decoration, kitchen and bathroom, and the implementation plan for the trade-in of electric bicycles. Implement the promotion of convenient sales of second-hand cars, online car cancellation registration, and "reverse invoicing" of recycling enterprises, etc., and continue to improve the recycling system of renewable resources, so that consumers can dispose of waste materials more conveniently.

Stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment, and implement a series of policies and measures to promote trade and help enterprises

To promote the stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade, the Ministry of Commerce has played a "1+N" policy combination and implemented a series of policies and measures to promote trade and help enterprises. We will do a good job in organizing major exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair, the Trade in Services Fair, and the Digital Trade Fair. Promote the innovative development of trade in services, and implement a negative list for cross-border trade in services. According to a survey of 16,000 key foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises by the Ministry of Commerce, more than seventy percent of enterprises are expected to increase their exports throughout the year.

Li said that in the first half of this year, the operation of foreign trade was stable and progressive, and the trade in goods showed strong resilience and market vitality, showing the characteristics of quantity increase, high quality and stable share. China has actively carried out international cooperation on trade digitalization and greening, and has reached the Framework Initiative for International Economic and Trade Cooperation on Digital Economy and Green Development with 39 countries. The market for green and low-carbon products is broad, and new energy vehicles are exported to more than 170 countries and regions. In the first quarter, the international market share of exports was 13.6%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points year-on-year, and China continued to maintain its position as the largest country in trade in goods. According to preliminary estimates, the share in the first half of the year was stable at about 14%.

The Ministry of Commerce has made greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, and the Ministry of Commerce has held 17 key activities under the "Invest in China" campaign to widely publicize investment opportunities in China. Held 12 roundtables for foreign-funded enterprises to continuously improve the convenience of living and working in China for foreigners, and continuously optimize the business environment. In the first half of the year, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises reached 27,000, and the actual use of foreign capital was 498.9 billion yuan. The structure of investment has been continuously optimized, and the proportion of investment in high-tech manufacturing industry has increased by 2.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

The Ministry of Commerce will further relax market access, expand the catalogue of industries encouraged for foreign investment, and release the 2024 version of the negative list for foreign investment access, which will completely remove restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector. Promote the orderly expansion of opening up in the fields of telecommunications, the Internet, education, culture, and medical care. The Measures for the Administration of Strategic Investment by Foreign Investors in Listed Companies have been revised and promulgated to guide more high-quality foreign investors to enter the capital market for long-term investment.

In the first half of the year, the actual use of foreign investment in the 22 pilot free trade zones reached 103.96 billion yuan, and the total import and export volume reached 4.1 trillion yuan, accounting for 20.8% of the country's foreign investment and 19.5% of the country's import and export with less than 4/1000 of the country's land area.

The Ministry of Commerce said that it is studying and formulating a comprehensive document for the implementation of the promotion strategy of the pilot free trade zone, and will focus on launching a number of leading and integrated reform measures to explore more successful experiences that can be replicated and promoted for comprehensively deepening reform.

Expand high-level opening-up and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative

It is an important task to promote the construction of a high-standard global free trade zone network. Up to now, the mainland has signed 22 free trade agreements with 29 countries and regions, and the trade volume with free trade partners accounts for about one-third of the mainland's foreign trade volume. Free trade partners have spread across Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and Oceania.

The Ministry of Commerce said that it will negotiate and sign free trade agreements with more willing countries and regions, and strive to increase the proportion of trade volume between the mainland and free trade partners in total foreign trade to about 40% by 2030. In the FTAs signed by new businesses, we will further enhance the level of openness to trade in goods, promote the inclusion of more products in the zero-tariff list, promote negotiations on trade in services and investment in the form of negative lists, and further expand opening-up in key areas such as telecommunications, medical care and tourism.

Promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and continuously improve the quality of cooperation. The trade structure has been continuously optimized, and the export of equipment and parts to the co-construction countries has been expanded, so as to promote the development of local industries; Actively expand the import of agricultural products and industrial products from the self-built countries, and share the opportunities of China's large market with the co-construction countries. The scope of cooperation with the co-construction countries has been continuously expanded, and investment cooperation agreements on green development, digital economy and blue economy have been signed with 42 co-construction countries, and the number of "Silk Road E-commerce" partner countries has expanded to 33. A number of landmark projects such as the China-Laos Railway have been completed one after another, and "small but beautiful" livelihood projects in the fields of agriculture, education, and medical care have been implemented one after another. In the first half of this year, the amount of new contracts signed for energy-saving, environmental protection and cleaning projects increased by nearly 70%.

The Ministry of Commerce will improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, continue to implement the eight actions of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and promote the deepening and practical economic and trade cooperation of the Belt and Road.