Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality registered sustained growth of foreign trade in the first 11 months of the year, as a result of efforts to leverage their favorable geographical locations in hopes of building themselves into a comprehensive hub for inland opening up and a new base for participating in international competition.
From January to November, the two provincial-level regions' trade in goods grew 4 percent to 1.57 trillion yuan (about 215 billion U.S. dollars), according to customs statistics.
In the January-November period, the imports and exports of high-tech products in Sichuan and Chongqing stood at 995.94 billion yuan (136.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 13.8 percent year on year. In particular, the imports and exports of integrated circuits ranked the first in the country. More than half of the world's tablet computers and one-third of the wold's laptops are produced there.
At the Chengdu high-tech comprehensive bonded zone in the provincial capital of Sichuan, trucks enter and exit in an orderly manner as the checkpoints automatically lift the barriers to let them go. Behind the smooth logistics is the continuous advancement of intelligent construction there.
"The customs authorities of Sichuan and Chongqing have kept promoting coordinated opening up of the Sichuan and Chongqing pilot free trade zones. Since the pilot free trade zones were established seven years ago, the customs authorities of the two regions have launched a total of 133 innovative approaches for customs supervision in the pilot free trade zones," said Xie Hongjian, deputy head of the Chengdu Customs' free trade zone and special region development department.
The twin cities of Chongqing and Chengdu provide driving force in the promotion of coordinated regional development. To create a new economic growth zone in western China, the Chengdu-Chongqing dual-city economic circle was first proposed on January 3, 2020 and its detailed guideline was released on October 21, 2021.
Construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle is another important regional development strategy, following that of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, the Yangtze River Delta in east China and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city cluster in south China.
The economic circle is located at the intersection of the Belt and Road and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It is the starting point of the new western land-sea corridor and has the unique advantage of connecting the country's southwest and northwest, and bridging East Asia with Southeast Asia and South Asia.
"The customs authorities of Sichuan and Chongqing have jointly assisted in the construction of shipping centers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and have kept promoting information exchange and business coordination between the customs administrations, ports, and marine and river shipping companies in the two regions," said Zhou Ke, deputy head of the Chongqing Customs' port control department.
Chongqing and Chengdu are among the first cities in China to start the cross-border China-Europe freight train service with the most stable operation and the greatest influence. By this November, the two cities together had transported goods worth over 410 billion yuan (54.8 billion U.S. dollars) since they launched their first freight train trip back in January 2021.
The China-Europe freight train transport service, a hallmark of the Belt and Road Initiative, has become a vital bridge for trade and connectivity between China and Europe, playing an increasingly important role in promoting open cooperation, mutual benefit and economic integration among participating countries.
Southwest China's Sichuan, Chongqing log robust foreign trade growth in January-November
