“The total export-import volume reached 6.3 trillion yuan in Guangdong 2016, accounting for 28.5% of the national volume,” announced by Ma Xingrun, Governor of Guangdong, in his annual report on government work of Guangdong released on Jan.19th , the opening day of the 5th session of 11th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.
As the pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up, Guangdong has claimed champion of the nation’s GDP in 27 consecutive years. However, in 2016 the world saw the rise of trade protectionism and populism. The overall situation for global trade and investment continued to wobble, which would possibly last into 2017. Lin Tao, President of the CCPIT Guangdong Committee indicated the trade promotion system of Guangdong will focus on “stabilizing market share, improving trade structure and increasing benefits” in 2017.
Lin Tao, President of CCPIT Guangdong Committee, voted on the The Fifth Session of 11th Guangdong Provincial Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
We need to change
According to the government report, to promote a steady rise is one of the most important keys for maintaining medium-high economic growth, and expanding export and stabilizing market share are the two priorities.
“In the new year, we will focus on stabilizing market share, improving trade structure and increasing benefits instead of simply focusing on expanding the amount,” said Lin, when he introduced the master plan of the trade promotion system this year.
In the past year, the province saw a good start on the transformation of mode and structure on business and trade. According to statistics, Guangdong’s general trade comprised a larger portion than theprocessing trade for the first time. As the foreign trade scale of Guangdong has enjoyed a high-speed development for the past decades, it would be a relative less room for the quantity growth in the future. As a result, the shift of emphasis in work is imperative. However, to guarantee those changes, more innovations are required.
Innovating platforms channels and measures
As the province’s largest civil organization for promoting trade, the CCPIT Guangdong Committee has gradually developed a series of platforms and channels such representative offices of economic and trade abroad, high-quality exhibitions and so on in the past decades.
“In this year, we will push forward a series of new measures. Firstly, we will innovate the operation way of the representative offices of economic and trade abroad. Secondly, we will continue to create and organize international exhibitions of high quality. Thirdly, we will bring forth new ideas on holding economic and trade activities to strengthen our linkage with the world. Fourth, we will expand the channel of legal service for international commerce. Finally is to construct the Investment and Trade Alliance of South Asia. With the Africa Investment and Trade Alliancewhich we’ve already established, the two alliances aim to provide new platforms for Guangdong enterprises going global,” Lin introduced.
According to Lin, the oversea representative offices will focus on classifying the market next year. The representative offices in developed countries or regions like the U.S.A and the EU should focus on introducing investment, cutting-edge technology and talents while the ones in countries from emerging markets should stress on assisting our enterprises to explore the market. The committee will support Guangdong enterprises to deeply involve in the international capacity cooperation and to transfer spare production capacity.
On the other hand, exhibition is also an effective way to help Guangdong firms grab orders from abroad. In the past decades, the CCPIT Guangdong Committee has gradually developed a way of “lifting sales by holding exhibitions”.
“In 2017, the committee will keep organizing the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo in Dongguan with other provincial departments. We are also going to have a Guangdong promotion during the Astana Expo 2017. And we will find some innovation ways to hold high-quality overseas exhibition. For example, we'll continue to improve the exhibition in India to open up the South Asian market. We'll promote the Guangdong products to Africa through holding an exhibition in Tanzania and we will also bring Guangdong goods to the Pacific Islands,” Lin added.
Go global
According to the report on government work, Guangdong-based firms invested more than 4 billion U.S. dollars in the countries and regions along the Belt and Road, up 65.3 percent from the previous year.
Data from the provincial commerce department shows that Guangdong firms invested 1.72 billion U.S. dollars in countries along the Belt and Road in 2014, and the investment saw a year-on-year increase of 44.7 percent in 2015. The province is also the first one in China to enact a plan in constructing the Belt and Road Initiative. In January of 2016, Guangdong provincial government established a "Silk Road Fund" which offers financial support to industrial parks, major infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries in some Belt and Road countries. All of the measures have sparked Guangdong’s enterprises to go global.
"We must seize the opportunities when countries along the Belt and Road, Africa and Latin America develop infrastructure intensively," said Lin Tao,"We must encourage and guide our enterprises to bring our products to the world."
According to Lin, among the countries along the Belt and Road, the CCPIT Guangdong Committee will focus on the construction of the representative offices in Singapore and Australia, radiating the ASEAN and South Pacific island countries. The committee is also preparing to establish one or two representative offices in East Europe and countries along the Belt and Road in the new year.
Lin further added that the committee will provide the Guangdong firmswith accurate support to deeply participate in the international competition.
“According to the statistics from the WTO, China has been the country that suffers the most anti-dumping investigations in the world for 21 years running. We must enhance the information collection work on economic and trade, feeding back the dynamic and trend of economic policy. We will also expand the channel of legal service for international commerce to escort our enterprises in international competition,” Lin added.
By Keane
Please turn to next page for the Chinese version
力促外贸回稳向好，广东有底气
1月19日，在广东省第十二届人民代表大会第五次会议上，广东省省长（时任代省长）马兴瑞在政府工作报告中指出，“广东2016年的进出口总额达6.3万亿元人民币，占全国的28.5%”。
作为中国改革开放的前沿，广东的经济总量连续27年位居全国第一。然而，在2016年全球贸易保护主义与民粹主义逐渐抬头的大背景下，2017年全球贸易和投资环境面临着持续低迷的风险，广东省贸促会会长林涛指出，我省贸促领域今年的工作重点也将是“稳份额、调结构、增效益”。
广东省政协委员、广东省贸促会会长林涛在中国人民政治协商会议第十一届广东省委员会第五次会议上投票
转变工作重点
马兴瑞省长在政府工作报告中将力促外贸回稳向好作为努力保持经济中高速增长的主要抓手之一。其中，全力扩大出口，稳定出口市场份额为新的工作重点。
在谈到2017年贸促系统总体工作规划时，林涛认为：“在新的一年里，我们将紧紧围绕我省外经贸‘稳份额、调结构、增效益’，全力做好贸易投资促进工作”。
统计数据显示，在过去的一年中，广东一般贸易在进出口中所占比例首次超过加工贸易，这应被视为广东省商贸结构转型的一个良好开端。从数量上看，基于广东外贸经过数十年的发展，未来持续增长的空间不大。所以，工作重点的转变可以说顺势而为。然而，贸易工作重点的转变也必然要求平台、渠道、手段建设的创新。
创新平台、渠道、手段建设
作为全省性的民间对外经济贸易组织，贸促会在长期发展中逐步建成了驻外经贸代表机构、精品展会等成熟的贸促平台和渠道。
“新的一年里，贸促会拟推出几项重点举措：一是创新驻外经贸代表处工作方式；二是创办精品展会；三是创新经贸活动方式，加强国际经贸联络；四是拓展国际商事法律工作渠道；五是筹建南亚投资贸易联盟，与我会已成立的非洲投资贸易联盟一起，为企业抱团出海搭建新的平台。”
在谈到如何创新驻外经贸代表处工作方式时，林涛认为应注重差异化发展，驻欧美发达国家代表处以“引进来”为主，引资、引智、引技并举；驻新兴市场国家代表处以帮助企业“走出去”为主，支持企业开展国际产能合作转移富余产能。
而在另一方面，展会平台也是贸促系统帮助企业抢抓国际订单，助力我省外贸稳份额的重要手段。在过去数年间，广东省贸促会逐渐走出一条“以展带销”的推广方式。
“2017年，我们将会同省直有关单位和东莞等市继续主办好‘广东21世纪海上丝绸之路国际博览会’；牵头做好我省参与2017年哈萨克斯坦阿斯塔纳世界博览会工作。我们也将创新方式方法，举办更多高质量的海外展会。例如，我们会继续深耕南亚市场，办好第15届印度展。我们将通过创办中国（广东）名优商品坦桑尼亚展将广东产品推广到非洲。我们也将继续举办好‘广东精品太平洋岛国巡回展’，向太平洋岛国推广广东优品。”林涛介绍道。
走出去，深度参与国际竞争
根据政府工作报告，广东去年对“一带一路”沿线国家投资达40亿美元，比前年增长65.3%。
商务部门发布的数据显示，２０１４年，广东对“一带一路”沿线国家实际投资为１７.２亿美元。２０１５年，同比增长４４.７％。实际上，广东是全国第一个制定参与“一带一路”建设方案的省份。在２０１６年１月，广东省政府还发起对外投资政策性基金——广东丝路基金，由省财政出资，吸引有关金融机构及社会资本参与，支持重点国别的产业园区、重大基础设施、农渔业等领域项目。这些举措都强烈刺激了广东的企业“走出去”。
林涛指出：“我们要抓住‘一带一路’沿线国家和非洲、拉美地区大规模开展基础设施建设的历史机遇，积极引导产品出口和企业‘走出去’。在‘一带一路’沿线国家中，重点抓好新加坡和澳大利亚代表处建设，并辐射东盟和南太国家。我们还积极筹划在东欧、‘一带一路’沿线国家设立1—2个代表处。”
林涛还补充道，贸促会将为广东企业提供“精准支持”，帮助它们更深入地参与国际竞争。“据世贸组织统计，中国已经连续21年成为遭遇反倾销调查最多的国家。因此，我们必须加强经贸信息收集工作，反映所在国家地区经贸政策动向、经贸关系走势，为经贸摩擦预警。我们也将拓展国际商事法律工作渠道，为企业参与国际竞争保驾护航。”
撰文：王凯
