RCEP advances opening-up in Guizhou

Since China sealed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement with 14 Asia-Pacific countries on Nov 15 last year, the deal has brought both opportunities and challenges for the opening-up of Southwest China's Guizhou province, according to information released at a recent seminar. The seminar was held by Guizhou's investment promotion bureau and Guizhou University of Finance and Economics.

RCEP is a global free trade zone with the largest population, most enormous economic scale and best development potential. Its 15 members have a total population of 2.27 billion people, a GDP of $26.2 trillion and an export value of $5.2 trillion.

Statistics showed that in the first 11 months of last year, Guizhou's import and export value with RCEP members was 13.15 billion yuan ($2.03 billion), occupying 27.02 percent of Guizhou's total import and export value.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic's impact, Guizhou's trade with ASEAN countries increased by 60.98 percent from January to November in 2020, reaching 7.72 billion yuan.

In the future, RCEP will become a key platform for Guizhou to further its opening-up, explore its market potential and make its opening-up more comprehensive and diverse.

The government and companies should seize opportunities to study the characters and relationships of RCEP members and follow the development trends of the industrial chain and supply chain.