Interview

Q： Recently， the State Council issued Opinions on Stabilizing and Promoting Foreign Trade， which covers further improving processing trade policies and supports the transfer of processing trade to central and western regions. Could you elaborate on that？

Shen Danyang： The State Council recently issued Opinions on Stabilizing and Promoting Foreign Trade， a new policy supporting the development of foreign trade. The policy covers five aspects， including processing trade. It focuses more on the development of and support for processing trade. It proposes the comprehensive use of fiscal， land and financial policies to support the transfer of processing trade to central and western regions and policies and measures on canceling review and approval of processing trade business nationwide and enhancing the mechanism for supervision both during and after the handling of matters. This shows that China attaches great importance to the special position and role of development of processing trade at this stage.

As you all know， processing trade has played a very important role in Chinas foreign trade in the past 30 plus years. Accounting for approximately 53% of Chinese foreign trade at one time， processing trade has now plunged to around 30%， which is also the main cause of the current slump in foreign trade. Processing trade companies are very peculiar in that they are like migrant birds constantly on the lookout for cost lowlands around the world. In the course of global industrial shifts， processing trade seems always to be on the move from one place to another. With rising costs of production factors in China， some processing trade businesses are leaving. Of course， we hope that a large part of them， especially those ready for transformation and upgrading， can stay for a better future. Such circumstances call for extraordinary policies that meet WTO rules， environmental standards and market access conditions to effect the migration. The move towards central and western China comprises both the FDI and relocations from the eastern seaboard. As processing trade transforms and upgrades in the east， part of the industry is migrating to neighboring countries. We hope that the migration can go slow and go westward rather than abroad to keep processing trade in the country.

Differential policies are needed to guide the westward transfer of processing trade. New measures at the state level offering land and electricity incentives to related businesses have proved very popular. For instance， while the central and western region steps up guarantee for processing trade land use， land released by the tiered relocation of processing trade in the east can be converted， upon approval to meet business， tourism and elderly care purposes. These are recent policies that have been well received. Im sure they will work.

Q： The 22nd APEC Meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Trade （MRT） will open in Peru very soon. What are Chinas key interests and expectations for the meeting？

Shen Danyang： The APEC Meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Trade will be held in Arequipa， Peru from 17th to 18th of May. Revolving around “Quality Growth and Human Development”， the theme of APEC Peru， the meeting will discuss， among others， support for the multilateral system， strengthening regional economic integration， promoting SME internationalization and services cooperation. The meeting intends to issue the APEC MRT Statement and the Separate Statement of APEC MRT on Supporting the Multilateral Trade System.

Bearing in mind the theme of the meeting， China will continue to push APEC members to jointly deliver APEC China outcomes such as the FTAAP， global value chain and connectivity. Special emphasis will be placed on the research on the collective strategy of the FTAAP for positive results as solid groundwork for a report and policy recommendations for the leaders before their meeting in Lima. I believe there will be positive outcomes. Thank you.

Q： The 2016 China E-commerce Annual Conference will be held in Beijing. What is the theme and program for this years meeting？ What does MOFCOM plan to do for e-commerce this year？

Shen Danyang： The China Ecommerce Annual Conference is a major event of the 4th CIFTIS scheduled in Beijing from May 28th to June 1st. As an important fixture of CIFTIS， this years conference， co-sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce and Beijing Daily Group under the guidance of the Department of Electronic Commerce and Informatization of MOFCOM， will be staged concurrently with CIFTIS at Beijing International Convention Center.

Under the theme of “Innovation， Ecology and Sharing”， the conference has one forum and five track sessions on Internet + cross-border consumption， Internet + life services， Inter + the countryside and community， Internet + payment and Internet + business culture. At the forum， MOFCOM will release the latest Report on Chinas E-commerce（2015 - 2016）. At the Internet + crossborder consumption track， the sponsors will ask representatives of crossborder e-commerce businesses and related agencies to discuss how to create the industrial chain in the e-commerce ecosystem in the new policy context and the future path and innovation of ecommerce. Hot e-commerce related topics can also be discussed at the conference. E-commerce associations from the EU and the Netherlands will also attend and share international experience and practices. So much for the E-commerce Conference.

Speaking of what MOFCOM plans to do to push forward e-commerce de- velopment， it is known to all that ecommerce has grown at a dazzling speed in recent years. The total e-commerce transaction value topped RMB 20 trillion last year， increasing 27% year-on-year to RMB 20.8 trillion. In the first quarter of 2016， the total national on-line retail sale amounted to RMB 1.0251 trillion， a YOY growth of 27.8%， among which on-line retail sale of merchandise increased by 25.9% to RMB 824.1 billion， accounting for 10.6% of the total retail sale of consumer goods. The figures prove that Chinas e-commerce has maintained momentum after years of high-speed growth. However， does it mark the end of e-commerce？ The answer is negative. There is still much room for developing e-commerce. Therefore， MOFCOM will continue to step up efforts to provide policy support for promoting development of e-commerce.

There is naturally plenty to do in all aspects， but we will focus on three points. First， we will ensure effective implementation of the special campaign on promoting development of standard e-commerce and the Internet + Circulation Action Plan launched in succession last year. Second， we will give priority to major tasks including integration of on-line and off-line transaction， cross-border e-commerce， ecommerce in rural areas and so on. Third， we will further strengthen public services and improve the operation climate. Thank you for your question.