To this end, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has recently started a new pilot program. These high-level guidelines are intended to facilitate and accelerate the reopening of the service sector. This new mayors’ initiative will involve nine cities in total. These included Dalian in Liaoning province and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, both known for their high levels of openness in the services sector. The program was specifically intended to promote economic development and improve international relations.
Each of the nine chosen cities is home to distinct industries that serve as powerful economic engines for their communities. The pilot program outlines 155 concrete actions organized into 14 focus areas. These pillars aim to foster the open development of telecommunications services, strengthen the medical and healthcare field, and encourage international exchanges in finance, culture and tourism.
China is bringing forth this Belt and Road initiative to address pressures from outside forces. Another key concern is the United States’ “reciprocal tariff” approach that has damaged the stability of international trade and disrupted global supply chains. In an effort to address the concerns, the Ministry of Commerce has released a new Policy Directions to deepen the implementation of the country’s opening-up strategy.
Of particular note is that the newest round for this pilot program will be rolled out at the same time across all 11 participating provinces and municipalities. This methodology removes differences among areas and job groups. Consequently, it encourages a standardized improvement of the service industry throughout the country.
In the first three months of this year, China pulled in a whopping $36.94 billion of foreign investment, 269.23 billion yuan. Perhaps most significant is the fact that over 70 percent of this investment went directly into the services sector. First, China is doing its utmost to woo more foreign investment. The country is particularly aiming at foreign insurance firms, sovereign funds and pension funds to provide green projects with investment, financial derivatives and technical services.
The nine cities welcomed into the second cohort of the pilot program have largely been uncharted territory for the services industry. Every city has their own secret sauce industries that set them apart from their competitors. Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said that the successful pilot has already laid a solid ground for homegrown innovations. These achievements will mean even more as scaled up and built out, repeated and amplified.
China’s pledge to this expanded pilot program is an indicator of the country’s efforts to reassert their commitment to economic globalization and a multilateral trading system. Ling Ji, vice-minister of commerce, emphasized that “China’s new measures demonstrate its unwavering determination to expand the opening-up, and its firm support for economic globalization and maintenance of the multilateral trading system.”
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