China encourages businesses to diversify foreign trade markets

The State Council, China's cabinet, has urged domestic businesses to diversify foreign trade markets to promote greater opening-up.

A view of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in East China's Zhejiang Province, on October 21, 2018. [File Photo: IC]

Exploring diversified international markets will help boost steady growth in foreign trade and keep the country's economy running smoothly, according to an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

Li urged efforts to sign high-standard free trade agreements and regional trade agreements with more countries, and expand comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones.

Enterprises are encouraged to increase imports and improve their international marketing networks to export more products catering to the needs of international markets, according to Li.

The meeting urged related departments and local governments to further streamline customs clearance by cutting time and requirements of unnecessary physical regulatory credentials and by improving work efficiency.

By May, China has beat its target this year of cutting the overall trade customs clearance time by half compared with 2017.

The meeting also called for enhanced market regulatory mechanism to improve social credit system. A blacklist will be developed to punish credit defaulters via a cross-sector, cross-field and cross-department regulatory framework.

Credit information security should be maintained while commercial secrets and individual privacy must be protected, and irregular practices will be cracked down upon, the meeting pointed out.