Promote the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade with innovation

Outstanding achievements in foreign trade development in the first ten months
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, my country’s total import and export volume from January to October 2021 was US$4.89 trillion, which is larger than that of last year. In the context of repeated global epidemics, weak recovery of the world economy, and increasing uncertainties, China’s foreign trade has maintained a momentum of good growth, providing a strong guarantee for the healthy and stable development of China’s economy.
China’s foreign trade has not only maintained a relatively rapid growth rate, but also has continued to optimize its structure. In the first ten months of 2021, denominated in RMB, exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 22.4% year-on-year, accounting for 58.9% of the total export value. Among them, the automotive industry performed very well, with a year-on-year growth rate of 111.1%. In the first ten months, China’s exports to the three major trading partners of ASEAN, the European Union, and the United States have maintained a relatively rapid growth rate, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 20%. The proportion of private enterprises’ trade volume has also increased steadily, indicating that the main body of trade is becoming more abundant and the endogenous driving force for trade development is constantly increasing.
The rapid and healthy development of China’s foreign trade has strongly promoted economic growth and played a prominent role in promoting employment. In the first ten months of 2021, the number of newly registered foreign trade operators reached 154,000, and most of them were small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises. In recent years, China has also actively expanded imports, especially consumer goods imports, to meet the diverse needs of the people. China’s high-quality and low-cost export products and super-large-scale markets have also made important contributions to the growth of global trade and the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain and supply chain.
Need to further promote the high-quality development of foreign trade
Although China’s foreign trade has achieved good results, the future external environment is still full of uncertainties. The endogenous driving force of China’s foreign trade development still needs to be strengthened, and there is still room for improvement in the import and export structure. This requires all walks of life in China to persist in establishing the guiding ideology of high-level opening to the outside world, and strive to promote the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade.
The “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for High-Quality Development of Foreign Trade” recently issued by the Ministry of Commerce puts forward the guiding ideology, main goals and work priorities of foreign trade development for all walks of life in China. It specifically points out that it is necessary to insist on innovation-driven and accelerate the transformation of development mode. It can be considered that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period and even longer in the future, innovation drive will become the source of power for the development of China’s foreign trade.
Driven by innovation as the first driving force for foreign trade development
In order to achieve innovation-driven, we must first deepen scientific and technological innovation in the field of foreign trade. Whether it is the improvement of production technology, the progress of logistics technology, or the expansion of marketing network, or even the improvement of exhibition methods, all need the support of technological innovation. Especially under the impact of the epidemic, the original value chain of the industrial chain has already been exposed to the risk of rupture. High-tech intermediate products and parts cannot be completely dependent on external supply, and independent production must be realized. However, R&D activities are not a day’s work and need to be promoted steadily under the unified deployment of the country.
In order to achieve innovation-driven, it is also necessary to continuously promote institutional innovation. “Forcing reform through opening up” is a successful experience in China’s reform and opening up process. In the future, we need to take the opportunity of promoting high-quality development of foreign trade as an opportunity to reform the systems and policies that hinder market-oriented development, whether it is “on the border” measures or “Post-border” measures all require continuous deepening of reforms to truly achieve institutional innovation.
In order to achieve innovation-driven, we must also pay attention to model and format innovation. Under the impact of the epidemic, one of the important driving forces for my country’s foreign trade to deliver satisfactory answers is the vigorous development of new formats and models of foreign trade. In the future, while taking into account traditional trade models and formats, we must also actively apply digital smart technology, improve the development of cross-border e-commerce business, actively participate in the construction of overseas warehouses, and small, medium and micro enterprises will actively participate in new formats and models such as market procurement, and participate in multiple varieties. , Multi-batch, small-batch professional market, and continuously expand the international market space. (Editor in charge: Wang Xin)